Stormy Weather
by IWLTxo
Summary: Their love was not flawless or endless: it was ripped open by wounds, tainted by lies and laced with mistrust. But it was love nonetheless. An epic tale; 1971-1981. R/S, slash.
1. Prologue

_This is the long adaptation of a one-shot I have, called 'Candles', which bloomed the idea of a long, epic tale of Remus and Sirius in my mind and heart over a year ago. This story will:_

_- Span for the whole of the Marauders reign at Hogwarts  
><em>_- Will continue up until 1981  
><em>_- It will have M rated scenes  
>- Will be a long, epic story of at least 250k words.<br>__- Most importantly, this story will be a Wolfstar - the wolfiest star I can produce. If you want to know what this story might/will (in some cases) include, then feel free to visit my page and have a look at 'Candles'. If not, then __I hope you enjoy this story. _

_P.S. This prologue is not representative of how long chapters actually will be. Chapters are likely to be 5k+._

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><p><em>Prologue<em>

There were eight Gryffindor boys in the common room with one stern Professor Minerva McGonagall standing before them, ever-fixed scolding look on her face. She had a delightfully long scroll of aged, beige parchment in her hand and an ostentatiously, bright blue quill perched patiently in the air beside the scroll. The quill was quivering with excitement, it seemed, and would sporadically burst into an array of twists and flips. _Bloody show off._

McGonagall cleared her throat and the silvery grey eyes of Sirius Black flicked up to meet hers. He wondered how the skin on her face looked when she let her hair down from the ridiculously tight, severe bun sitting atop her head. Perhaps her already-present wrinkles were defined further without the benefit of her skin stretching tight due to severe buns. _Yes,_ Sirius thought, _that sounded believable. _And maybe her face shrivelled up when severe buns were undone, grateful for the freedom from the confines of tightly wrapped hair. He would have to make sure to test his hypotheses in the future.

James Potter stood next to Sirius Black. They became friends on the train (actual friends!) and although Sirius knew he should be a lot more scared and anxious than he was - after all he was in _Gryffindor_ now - he couldn't bring himself to care. Perhaps it was the adrenaline from the Sorting, addling his already very naturally disorientated brain. _Must be the inbreeding,_ he thought resolutely as he pondered for a moment why he was so naturally disorientated.

'Attention,' McGonagall croaked, her eyes flicking to Sirius's every few seconds, like she still could not believe her eyes and ears. _Yes, yes,_ he thought impatiently. He was the first Black to _ever_ be in Gryffindor. But that did not mean he would sprout fangs and long-nails and start slashing at the woman. It merely meant that he was an anomaly and should therefore be regarded with a little caution.

The young eleven year old boy shook his head and focused more overtly on the tall, towering figure of McGonagall. 'There are more Gryffindors this year then expected.' She began in a slow, commandeering voice. A boy not far from Sirius sneezed loudly and subsequently turned bright pink when all eyes turned to him. She appraised him briefly before continuing on with her monologue. 'We won't force you to stay in a dormitory of eight; that would be akin to child abuse. Rather, there will be two dormitories, each with four beds. This half-' she points at a blond boy and the three boys to his left, 'will be in Dormitory One of the Gryffindor House. And this half-' she points at Sirius, James and two other boys, 'will stay in Dormitory Two.' She waved her wand (about nine to nine and a half inches and fir wood from the colour of it, Sirius concluded with a mere affirmative nod of his head) and then she smiled at them, lips almost as tight as the bun on her head. 'Your trunks are in the dorms. Breakfast is at seven thirty and lessons start at nine o'clock. Do not be late.' With that and a final swish of her long, dark cloak, McGonagall hurried out of the portrait hole without another look back.

Sirius turned to appraise the two unknown boys who would be in his dormitory for the next seven years. The first was a short, timid looking thing, molten eyes much too large and blond hair flopping forward to cover some of his face. He was very thin, almost dangerously so, but met Sirius's gaze with a half smile. The second was frumpy, the shortest of the four, and had blond hair too, not as long and thick as the previous boy's but a brilliant colour nonetheless. He turned a little red when his eyes met Sirius's and looked away quickly.

'Hello,' James said in a confident, proud voice as he turned to face the boys. He extended a hand to shake the hands of both shy-blondie and fat-blondie. 'I'm James Potter.'

'P-Peter Pettigrew,' the frumpy one stuttered, taking James's hand and shaking it vigorously.

'Remus Lupin,' the thin one also supplied with a soft lilt to his voice as he shook hands with James and smiled. Then he turned to face Sirius and tilted his head a little to the side, watching him carefully with calculative eyes for a moment. Then pink lips moved softly and he said with an encouraging raise of his eyebrows; 'Who might you be?'

They _all_ knew that he knew who Sirius was. Who _didn't_ know who Sirius Black was, unless of course, Lupin was a Mudblood. But irrespective of that, it was courtesy to introduce oneself properly. Sirius wouldn't want to make his mum angry by being disrespectful (even if Lupin and Pettigrew weren't pureblood surnames) so he shook their hands and said with a wide, pearly-white-teeth grin- 'My name is Sirius Black.'

'Yes, it's lovely to meet you all. I'm sure we'll get on really well. But now it's time to discuss the big problem at hand.' As he said this, the boys of Dormitory One ascended the stairs without so much as a greeting to their complimentary dorm mates.

'W-what's the b-big problem?' the trembling voice of Pettigrew uttered.

James's face burst into a luminous beam and he shouted: 'I get dibs on the window bed!' A race between the boys emerged and Sirius grumpily accepted that he only got the second bed that was closest to the window, between Potter and Lupin. When the boys chose their beds and examined the well-furnished dorm, they were presented with the pleasant surprise of their trunks flanking each individual bed. It was with the chilling realisation that each bed they had chosen had their own trunks next to it. Sirius smiled when Peter, the last to confirm the already self-explanatory fact, said that the trunk beside his bed was indeed his. _Magic really was a wonderful thing._

With unrestrained laughter, the four boys spoke to each other for most of the night. And whilst Sirius Black knew his mother would have a lengthy aneurysm if she found out _what _blood status Lupin and Pettigrew were (both half-bloods), he didn't care for once. Instead, he enjoyed the company of boys his age in a school with infinite possibilities for mischief, marauding and madness.

When Sirius lay in his bed, dressed in Slytherin pyjamas of a dark green and grey, and with the bright light of the half-moon streaming through the open window, he willed the fear away, knowing that Bellatrix, Narcissa and her nasty fiancé Malfoy would have already sent a letter to his pretentious, strict parents.

Parents who expected to hear news of his Sorting into Slytherin, not Gryffindor.

_Regardless,_ he thought proudly as he drifted further into the realm of dreams, _I won't worry because worrying doesn't do anything to relieve the situation. Instead, I'll embrace the fact that I'm at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor. And that I'm free._

A loud snore rippled in the air and he didn't even need to look over to guess it was Peter. It seemed to have the same Birmingham lilt that his voice did. Sounds of snores soon filled the room and Sirius could barely restrain the jaw-cracking grin that was plastered on his face, even in the morning when he was woken up by James Potter, he was still grinning. He felt like grinning for the rest of his life and nothing was going to take that small, innocent feeling away from him.

Until a red envelope landed on his plate of eggs and started smoking, mother's screeching voice filling the hall and shivers ripping through his body as well as the bodies of anyone with sense.

'_... WHEN I NEXT SEE YOU...'__  
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><p><em>Hope you enjoyed.<em>


	2. Part One: I

_I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. This isn't quite 5k words but it's almost there. There earlier years will not be as drawn out, as I plan to have no more than four chapters or so for the first two/three years but that might change._

_Enjoy!_

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><p><em>Part One<br>I_

The Howler During Breakfast incident was not forgotten by the majority of Hogwarts; though some were merciless with their teasing (Slytherins of course) whilst others looked at Sirius Black with pity.

Remus Lupin was one of them. The words haunted him at night when he slept, wrapped in his cocoon of the blankets handmade by his Muggle mother, and with the curtains drawn so the dreadful light of the moon was blocked out.

He was just surprised that a mother could treat her own son so abhorrently, in front of an audience of maybe six or seven hundred. That being said, he was a child who had grown to accustomed to lavishes of love and adoration. His mother _still_ gave him breakfast in bed and his father _still_ massaged his feet when he lay down beside him before the television.

But then again, people were spoiled in their own ways. James Potter had the appearance of being a well taken care of boy, without the rippling scars on his arms and face like Remus. In the two weeks spent together, already he had recounted several stories to the group as they sat on their beds at night, of all the fun things he had done at home in Surrey.

As for Peter, he too told them about his mother's job in Honeydukes (the largest in the country) that resided near their home in Birmingham. Perhaps this was why Peter packed a little extra weight around his tummy ... and both his chins. But he was a lovely boy, Remus thought with a nod of his head. He was polite, relatively quiet, and laughed at all of Remus's jokes.

Sirius Black however was an enigma. He had yet to share an intimate story, though he loved listening to those of the others. He was also a guarded person, very careful with what he shared and the information he did share was riddled with camouflaged, much darker themes and of course, the standard fake smile. He was also always the last one up and would often go to lessons with wet hair and pallid skin, as if he hadn't slept at all really.

But he was friends with Remus and Peter, a huge surprise considering that his mother had howled 'AND IF I FIND OUT THAT YOU ARE FRATERNISING WITH THOSE OF LESSER BLOOD STATUSES YOUNG MAN, THEN YOU WILL BE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!'

But Sirius didn't seem to care much that Remus had a Muggle for a mother, or that both of Peter's parents were half-blood.

James elbowed Remus and ripped him out of his reverie, a large grin on his spectacle-framed face. 'Alright, Remus?'

'Yeah. Just thinking.'

'About what?' Peter asked as he piled more sausages on his plate of bacon, beans, egg and toast.

'About ... the assignment Flitwick set on the Levitation Charm.'

A scoff came from Sirius's direction as he sipped his flask of pumpkin juice and finished swallowing his last bite of delightful croissant. 'It was hardly an assignment. Five inches on the uses of Wingardium Leviosa and the nature of the charm. It look five minutes last night.'

'When were you working on it? You could have invited me. I had to scribble mine this morning.' James laughed.

'Oh,' Sirius said slowly, drinking his pumpkin juice and shrugging nonchalantly. 'Sometime during the night.'

The bell sounded and the group of boys crammed the last bits of their food into their mouths before throwing their satchels on and standing up in preparation for their Charms lesson.

'Hey Black,' Serena Yaxley called from the other side of the crowd. Sirius grinned and went over to her to greet her with a hug and some small conversation.

'Who's she?' Remus asked softly, not quite sure why he cared. Perhaps he cared because he was a naturally curious person who had to know everything.

It was James who answered, and rightfully so as he was the only pureblood in the group of three. 'She's his betrothed.'

Remus started laughing. 'Seriously? His _betrothed_?'

The messy-haired boy laughed with him, bright hazel eyes glimmering with amusement. 'You need to remember he's from one of those upperty, ridiculously rich and pretentious pureblood families. She's probably been his betrothed since birth.'

Remus turned to appraise her: blonde hair, light blue eyes, pink cheeks and a short, slender build. They looked good together, he decided. The Yaxley girl caught him looking at her carefully, and her once pretty face contorted into one of disgust. Cheek reddening, Remus flicked hair of gold out of his eyes and focused them instead of the great walls and pillars of the school.

Hogwarts was like nothing he had ever imagined or expected. The ceilings of every room he had thus come across were so tall, Remus was sure that a giant would be able to stand comfortably in the school.

The gargoyles were interestingly horrible, he decided. Remus had had the pleasure of coming across one during his hunt for the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom when he had gotten lost and had asked a gargoyle for directions. The evil, miserable thing had sent him in the wrong direction and as a result, Remus ended up missing most of the lesson when he did finally find the class.

As for the portraits, some were hilarious and kind whereas others were insulting and rude. He was so disorientated by all the magic in the school that he still pinched himself each morning to make sure that life was real. Magic was etched in every single stone pillar, stair, wall and candle holder of the school and it was brilliant.

Flitwick, his toothbrush moustache and three foot tall stature rushed pass the mangled line of children and screeched in a voice at least a dozen decibels higher than Remus's: 'Enter the classroom please and take out your assignments.'

'It's barely an assignment,' Remus heard one of the Slytherins laugh as he walked past to get to his chair.

So far, Remus didn't know what to think of the Slytherins. Some were quiet and stayed to themselves whereas others were very confrontational and took an anti-non-pureblood stance on everything: be it a half-blood passing them a fresh ink pot to use or a Muggleborns smiling at them. It was very barbaric and therefore completely justified it when James Potter threw a dungbomb into the cauldron of one Mr Severus Snape.

Remus had an odd feeling about that specific Slytherin. He felt like the other boy had deduced all there was to deduce about him (namely his slight wolffish dilemma). And though Remus knew it was irrational, he was scared. Tonight would be the first full moon of the school year and he was trembling with fear.

It would also be the first full moon without his mother sitting outside the cellar door, singing to him and telling him she loved him. But Remus was almost a big boy now. He needed to grow up. He also needed to stop being a burden on his lovely, beautiful mother.

His eyes met those of Sirius Black's and they exchanged an awkward smile. Each boy could tell the other had a huge secret and suffered from something terrible. Whereas for Sirius, it was the psychological abuse for not being like his younger brother and elder cousins, for Remus it was mostly on a physical and emotional level.

Flitwick took the neat roll of parchment from Remus and smiled at him upon noticing the extra two paragraphs. 'Ten points to Gryffindor, Remus. You've gone above and beyond what I've asked. Excellent!'

The blond boy blushed brightly and nodded with a small shake of his nose. 'Thank you.' He said.

'Thank you,' mocked Snape from the back of the class. Some of the Slytherins chuckled and suddenly, Remus's face wasn't pink any more so much as the colour of scarlet blood.

'Shut up Snivellus,' growled James from the left of Remus. 'You're just upset that you had to spend the whole of last night wiping off the traces of snot from your essay.'

Snape whipped out his wand and James took out his. 'Go on,' he laughed. 'I dare you.'

'Silence!' Flitwick cried impatiently. 'And put your wands away. Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. There will be no silly wand waving in this class.'

'It's not silly if one of us knows how to use our damn wand,' James muttered darkly.

'A further five points from Gryffindor, and it'll be a detention next if you open that insolent mouth once more Mr Potter.'

'Yes sir.' He replied quietly, eyes boring holes into the side of Snape's head.

'Now,' Flitwick said with a wave of his miniature hands. 'Now that we can all cast the Levitation Charm correctly on features and books, I want to play a fun activity with you for the next hour. You will all choose a partner and attempt to cast the Levitation Charm on them. I have some pillows set out at the back of the classroom and have cast a Cushioning Charm on the classroom floor so no one gets hurt. When one can cast the Levitation Charm successfully on a human being, then one has successfully learnt the spell to its full capacity. It is harder to levitate a person than a whole classroom or building in most cases. Now, pair up - there should be an even number of us - and attempt to levitate your friend.'

As expected, James and Sirius paired up together, though the latter bestowed a questioning look to Remus before standing beside James. Peter grinned shyly and went over to Remus with a silent question, answered with an affirmative nod and a welcoming grin.

'Be gentle Peter,' Remus felt like he had to warn. His body ached and he wasn't in the mood to be thrown around. The pre-transformation aches and tenderness had set in yesterday. His jaw hurt a bit and the muscles in his body, as if preparing for the endeavours they would have to face later, ached terribly.

Peter but his lip and then said in a quiet, shy voice, 'I don't think you should be with _me_ then. I haven't got the spell down quite perfect. I can do it on feathers but not on books or scrolls of parchment. Maybe you should be with Sirius? He can cast it perfectly.'

Remus clasped Peter's shoulder and said softly, 'Don't worry. It's a hard spell to get the hang of.' Then he moved over to the pair of already-very-close friends and said with a laugh, 'I think we should swap James. I'm not feeling so well and I want to pair up with someone who I know won't drop me.'

All three of them turned to face a pink-cheeked Peter and then nodded together at the same time. 'Yes, right. See ya then Sirius.'

The two boys watched as James dragged Peter over to a cushion to show him how to correctly do the spell and though he was alright at it, it proved a lot harder to levitate a whole person.

'Don't worry,' Sirius said softly. 'I won't drop you.'

The lighter haired boy smiled and tried to relax his body. Then, he was overwhelmed by the feeling of weightlessness and freedom. It was a splendid feeling to experience, almost too abstract to define and most certainly careless. Remus looked around and appeared to be the only one floating whilst all the kids around him struggled to achieve what he and his dark-haired partner were achieving.

Then Remus's body shook and with a bewildered look down at Sirius, he could see the arrogant pureblood chuckling softly to himself, all the while his wand still pointed at Remus and maintaining the charm. When their eyes met again, nothing but curiosity and timidity passing between them, Sirius reiterated the idea that: 'I won't drop you.'

The lighter haired boy threw his arms out and laughed at the powerful emotion running through his body before saying quietly with a twinkle in his eyes, 'You don't seem like the type who will.'

Remus was gently lowered back onto the pillow and the grinning, handsome face of Sirius's peeped into view. They laughed together as Flitwick hurried over to award them twenty points. It was _glorious._

_xo_

Changing in the bathroom was completely justifiable and respectful of Remus even, to not force the other three boys to watch his ugly, scarred naked body as he changed into clothes to go down to the special place Dumbledore arranged for him to transform in.

He looked at his reflection in the foggy mirror and paused. His hair was darker with dampness, eyes a raw red and skin a pale, clammy white. Remus did not like the way he looked, whether his mother called him beautiful each night when he was at home or not, he felt ugly. The burden of being a wolf made him uglier even. And his much-too-big eyes did not help, nor the lips a little too full for the face of an eleven year old boy. His nose was a tad too long, chin a little pointed, hair too many shades of blond and brown and his smile...

His smile was too broken and unintentionally revealed just how much trauma and pain his body had suffered from. How much he had suffered.

_Broken boy._

There was a knock on the bathroom door just as he heaved his large grey jumper over his head.

'Almost done there Remus?' a polite Peter asked most patiently and precisely. His Brummie accent was rather unnoticeable in that moment, though it could have been because Peter's voice was a barely comprehensible muffle, leaving no room for the acknowledgement of northern accents.

'I'll only be a minute more.' Was the calm reply.

'But I need to pee, Remus!' It was James now, his voice lathered in desperation and eagerness.

'Er ... just a sec ... I'm done,' the blond boy said softly, looking once more in the wretched _truth-revealer_ before unlocking and swinging open the bathroom door.

Both James and Peter had the most comical expressions on their faces; James was bouncing up and down and Peter was biting his lip hard. He noticed, though barely, the image of Sirius Black strolling into the dormitory with a letter clutched tightly in his hands. He did not even greet them but it was fine because James and Peter were now bouncing on the balls of their feet eagerly.

'Oooh,' the messy-haired boy said, sniffing eagerly. 'That smells nice. What is that?'

'The house-elves have put in some new shampoo and conditioner. It's citrus scented, I think.' They collectively sniffed the air and nodded simultaneously. 'Definitely citrus.' They laughed.

'I think I might take a shower, now I think about it,' James said softly, tapping his chin. As if a slower, dimmer shadow, Peter nodded too and said in a muffled voice: 'Yeah, shower...'

'Well I'll probably see you guys tomorrow then. I'm off to see my mum. She's er … very sick, yeah, so McGonagall is letting me leave to home for a day or two to see her and make sure she's alright.'

The faces of both the boys opposite him dropped. Then Peter said in a croak, 'But _who_ will help me with my homework?'

It was as if Remus had already built a reputation of being the fair and very helpful agent for those in need of homework help. Yes, he liked the sound of that. He would have to make sure to come up with a fitting name. The Fair and Very Helpful Agent for Those in Need of Homework Help did not have a nice and fluid ring to it, though it would have to do for now.

But yes, already in their house, he had somehow made himself known as the one to help people with their homework. Just last week, Lily Evans (a red-haired Muggleborn who hated James Potter) had exchanged extra Potions tips for Remus's help in her Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment. They had since become friends and he was glad to be making friends in Hogwarts. It was something he was not used to. The kids in his neighbourhood back home despised him for what he was and thought him to be odd, ugly and very dangerous.

Remus was a hindsight less dangerous than characters like Avery and Snape in his year, who had already been given a detention for throwing a gust of wind at a poor Muggleborn in Hufflepuff and blowing him off his seat in class.

'I'll have to help you with your homework,' James laughed, shaking his head and breaking Remus out of the train of thought he was trapped in. There was a soft shoulder-clasp from James, very polite of him even and he said in a gruff voice (gruff for an eleven year old at least): 'I guess we'll just have to see you when you get back. I hope your mum feels better soon.'

'Thanks. I hope she does too.'

James was a very friendly person. He was not a malevolent person at all, though perhaps that statement was not correct in regards to his attitude towards people such as Snape, Avery and Mulciber. He always had a carefree grin on his face, even when Sirius was in one of his moods (always aroused after post in the morning or midnight letters that he thought none of them noticed, but they all did). The air of a good upbringing and happy childhood, although embedded in almost everything he did, were not too overwhelming. Remus almost forgot sometimes that James was a portrayal of what he could never be: rich, happy and just a child.

The bathroom door closed with a soft click. Wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm, Remus bit his lip and looked at the gorgeous grandfather clock in the corner of the room. He had about five minutes until he needed to leave and meet McGonagall in the Entrance Hall.

Remus looked around the room to check whether he had left anything. His school books were in his satchel, as were spare changes of clothes, a toothbrush and some of the chocolate his parents had sent him. As his large, molten brown eyes scanned the room, they paused on the bed next to his own. The blinds were shut and he could hear sniffling from inside. There was tapping on the window and Remus turned to see that it was an owl, or rather a hawk maybe, with huge claws and a beak at least four or five inches long.

He bit his lip, debating whether or not to ask Sirius Black what was wrong but then he remembered that he hated when people interfered during a moment of distress, heartbreak, such earth-shattering pain that he could hardly breathe.

Pain he was going to be experiencing in twenty eight minutes and thirty two seconds.

Thirty one seconds.

_Thirty._

Remus picked up his satchel and dug around inside for some of his chocolate, the best in the whole of the world, he was sure, and broke a large piece off (at least one third) before wrapping it in some spare parchment and writing very clearly on the front Sirius Black. He then placed it on the windowsill, beside the extravagant candle-holder and the notepad labelled with the signature loopy calligraphy that was a mark of the grand upbringing Sirius had had.

Although curiosity struck his soul, Remus shook his head of now much lighter - and dried - blond hair and slipped his shoes on. Without another word but one last frantic look at the shielded bed, he left the room and hurried along to meet the stern McGonagall.

She stood there, an odd expression on her face that was automatically erased when her eyes fell upon the slumped and very small figure of Remus. Her face softened and though she didn't touch him, she almost made to and that in itself meant something. She did not come across as a very empathetic woman; maybe intelligent enough to understand that there were things going on in people's lives that she herself would never dream of understanding, but could at least acknowledge the weight in which they held. Her objectivity was comforting though - it made her more reliable than most of the people in Remus's life. It also calmed the over-anxious and defensive side of him.

_Little Remus, always trying to please the people he wanted to impress most._

'Good evening Mr Lupin,' McGonagall said in a voice much kinder than the one she used to address James Potter or Sirius Black. 'How are you?'

'Er,' he hesitated and then shrugged his shoulders. 'Fine I guess.'

'You're not … nervous?' She genuinely seemed curious for more information.

Remus was silent for a minute or two whilst she led them to the Hospital Wing, going through short cuts that he admitted to his memory and even taking them through a canvas that seemed to be covering a wall but was in actual fact merely an illusion that deposited them on the other side of the castle.

'Professor...'

'Yes Lupin?' she avoided looking at him.

'You do know how long I er … I've been a werewolf for?'

'Most of your life, I'm sure...'

He swallowed and resolutely stared ahead as the doors to the Hospital Wing got closer and closer down the long corridor.

'So long I can't remember a life before.'

She cleared her throat and knocked on the door, her eyes perhaps slightly glassier than when he first saw her. 'Right.'

Madam Pomfrey opened the doors to the Hospital Wing and grinned at the both of them. 'Thank you Minerva, I can take it from here.'

The young blond boy didn't really remember much of what happened after, just that he was given a Calming Draught which did not help much. They were forgetting that he knew everything there was to know about pain: he had grown up in a wonderland of the pain he was forced to feel on the full moon. A Calming Draught wouldn't help him when he was moments away from getting ripped apart by his darkest, inner demons.

'Your parents are coming in the morning to see you. They want to make sure your first transformation in a very different environment goes well.'

He shook his head to snap out of the imprisonment of his thoughts and then nodded. 'Right, thanks.'

Pomfrey looked at him and then reached out a hand to tuck some of his hair back behind one of his dainty ears. 'Your face is so much more handsome when I can see all of it, darling.'

That idea rung in his head, even when they were walking into what would soon become his own personal _hell._

His hair looked nicer pushed back? He would have to remember that.

Remus stripped and placed his clothes on top of the wardrobe. Then he sat cross-legged on the floor, asked Pomfrey to leave quickly because: 'I don't want you to hear me.'

And when she was gone and he was all alone with his thoughts, memories, emotions and fears, and the wolf came out to play, he screamed as loud as he could, because to come out to play, it had to rip apart his body.

It was agony: his bones were broken and melded into one another. His skin was burning as it peeled into itself and new skin appeared, and with the new skin came the prickles of thousands of needles stabbing all over his body as hair grew. His jaw broke itself to grow accustomed to the new features of the wolf's jaw, and with that came the burning torment of teeth growing into the jaw.

He was too young to be going through all of this. But then the wolf took over and it was like a veil of darkness being thrown over him as the wolf pushed him back into the recesses of his own mind and dominated what it was meant to dominate: the night of the dreaded full moon of course.

The werewolf wreaked havoc on Remus's poor body and soul: not only for being enslaved for four weeks but for being taken to a place without its mark, without its familiarity and most importantly, without its awareness. It was apart of Remus just as Remus was apart of it.

The wolf would only wait until the stupid boy would realise that.

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><p><em>Please review. Have a great daynight!_


	3. Part One: II

_Second chapter of the first part. I hope you enjoy it. _

_P.S. Remus is so much fun to write *excited face*_

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><p><em>Part One<br>II_

The large, family owl somehow found Sirius when he was walking outside near the greenhouses. There were shiny, glowing orange pumpkins neatly lining the row of greenhouses, growing exponentially larger by the day. Yesterday they had been the size of apples and now they could easily compete in size with melons.

Sirius Black liked walking around the Hogwarts grounds. Whilst he thought the boys in his dorm were nice and he especially got on well with James when he could be bothered, there was a small part of him that resented the three boys. Why were they allowed to be happy and he wasn't? Just when he was forgetting about the load of trouble he would get in when his parents finally let him come home (his mother had said that he was too barbaric to be allowed home for Christmas this year), he would get a letter condemning him and his daring to get into Gryffindor.

Gryffindor was a house that did not adhere to any of the social norms Sirius had grown up with. The Gryffindors were like a family in the respect that they were automatically comfortable with each other, almost in ways that Sirius was alien to. They didn't mind cramming as many as could fit on the four seater sofas scattered around the common room. They shared secrets, spoke to one another irrespective of blood status and would share Honeydukes chocolate with each other (though Sirius was yet to get offered a piece of the delicious stuff).

They were completely different to anything he had ever encountered. That being said, his relationship with Regulus was about the most affectionate thing that Sirius had ever experienced. Regulus and his Uncle Alphard, on second thought. His uncle was the most human person in the family: not scared of standing up to pureblood social principles, free to talk however and to whoever he wanted to and most importantly, he was not a maniac.

Delightfully eccentric, ruggedly handsome and with a glowing constant grin, Alphard was Sirius's favourite person in his family, perhaps. Other than Regulus of course.

He was ripped out of thought when the large, bloody bird nipped his finger sharply. 'Blimey,' Sirius hissed, a word he had heard many of the Gryffindors say to demonstrate exclamation, 'hold your horses you stupid bird. Or should I say hold your wings? I mean you're not a horse, you probably don't know what a horse is, so the saying really has no relevance or meaning to you- ow! Crap!' He pulled his hand back again, examined the two sharp nips in his palm and bit his lip angrily. Without another second's protestation, Sirius pulled the letter off the bird and turned his back on it, briskly rushing towards the nearest door to the school.

He turned the letter over in his hands to examine it.

It seemed like it was one from his brother, a nice change to the constant bombardment of letters from his mother. Sirius called her Wicked Walburga in his head, just like his father was Oppressive Orion, and his three first cousins who were closest to his immediate family, were: Nasty Narcissa, Beastie Bella and Accurate Andromeda; by Accurate, Sirius was referring to her uncanny ability to know everything he felt and thought.

The one Sirius was least sure about however, was his little brother. Reliable Regulus was what fit most because of all their fights, all their games, he had always been that one reliable person. The one who never wavered in Sirius's life; was always constant and there.

Until now of course.

Sirius walked through a corridor that he recently discovered was a short cut to the Gryffindor Common Room and hurried up the last staircase perpendicular to the portrait hole: and what was the portrait?

Or rather, what was the portrait of?

The Fat Lady. Awful at singing, cranky for twenty three of the twenty four hours in a day and a sucker for compliments. Sometimes, she could even be persuaded by the older students to allow the admittance of non-Gryffindors if they lathered her with the right type of compliments: "Your singing voice is spectacularly shrill today, Ms Fat Lady", "That pink dress highlights the pinkness in your face Lady" or "Your blue eyes are so much wider than usual in your enormously flabby face".

Sirius had tried one just for the fun of it (and not because James had at all pushed him into it) and she had lectured him for maybe twenty minutes of his life, that he was not getting back by the way, for saying that 'pink was her colour if she was going for the pig-look'.

'Good evening, Ms Fat Lady,' he said in a polite and awfully cultured voice.

She pursed her lips and her already much-too-small-for-her-face eyes narrowed further. 'Good evening, Mr Black. Password?'

'Animo Capesseret,' he said in a soft voice and stepped through the hole when the door opened. He was greeted with weary eyes (coincidentally the elder, lesser-blooded Gryffindors) as well as affectionate and careful eyes (young girls who were his age or older). Sirius tucked a lock of hair behind his ear and couldn't find his dorm mates in the common room. With a frown, he realised that they must have been up in Dormitory Two for the Gryffindor First Year Boys: it was such a mouthful.

Sirius decided that he would have to read the letter up in the dorm when he saw a familiar beak in the window, and sure enough behind the glass window and beating its wings furiously hard was the huge bird that had delivered the letter to Sirius.

What exactly was it waiting for? _A reply?_ Over Sirius's dead body would it get a reply, especially if it was a letter like the previous one.

He turned and met the eyes of a first year called Marlene McKinnon. She was family friends with Sirius and James, though more the Potters than the Blacks. But he recognised her from his childhood and almost completely forgot that they were indeed the same age.

McKinnon smiled at him and tentatively, Sirius smiled back before turning sharply to glare once more at the bird in the window and running up the winding staircase of the boys dormitory. He glided through, sparing a brief look at the group of three standing around the bathroom door. James and Peter didn't notice him, merely too enrapted in what appeared to be their desperate and all-consuming need to pee whilst Remus spared him the briefest of glances before answering one of the many questions being thrown at him by the two desperate, all-consumed boys.

He snuck into the enslaring folds of his bed, ripped the curtains around it sharply so he was shielded from the view of his friends and opened the letter.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I hate you for what you've done. Mother and Father are furious at you for daring to get into Gryffindor. Your "daring" as I'll so eloquently/politely put it has caused a rift between the family already and it hasn't even been a month yet. Alphard has been asked to leave the manor on more than one Sunday brunch occasion and Cygnus is asking Father to disown you already._

_They're a lot stricter with me now - I have lessons for six hours a day now instead of four and I don't get weekends off anymore. They don't want me to turn out like you and I don't want to turn out like you too._

_A Gryffindor, Sirius? What were you _thinking_? That you wanted to tear the whole family apart. Because if you were aiming to achieve that, you have. I always used to cry and feel bad when you'd get in trouble but now I think that you deserve it, always have._

_I don't want to ever see you again._

It was not signed but it did not need to be. Sirius recognised the neatly and very deliberately written handwriting; it was a letter from Regulus, probably checked for spelling mistakes by his mother but a letter from his dearest brother nonetheless.

He placed the letter on his lap, tucked his head between his knees and started to cry. It hurt more than the letters from his parents had, and of course it would. Regulus was his constant, wasn't he?

Or had he also given up on Sirius, like the letter demonstrated? Sirius tried to keep his sniffles as quiet as he could but it was hard when he had been stupid enough to come up here to read the deceiving letter.

It was hard to not cry when his brother had said such hurtful things.

It was at least two or three hours later when Sirius jolted awake to slink out of bed to go toilet, brush his teeth and have a midnight shower. The rushing water stabbing at his back was soothing in an romantically masochistic way: it was much too hot and he feared that the blazing water would leave him looking red as a tomato when he left the stall, but the pain felt nice. His hair hung to cover most of his face and his hands ached to scratch and stab at his skin.

When he left the shower he stumbled over to his bed, eager not to rouse awake the light-sleeper James. When Sirius looked out of the window at the blaring full moon in all its divine light, he noticed next to the candle holder a folder piece of parchment, concealing something within its folds, and stained with the scrawled writing spelling out his name.

Sirius slowly opened the roll of parchment up and his face split into a smile when he saw a lump of delightful looking Honeydukes chocolate. Even though he had only just brushed his teeth, he broke a small fraction off and eagerly sucked the chocolate into his mouth, licking the traces from his fingertips and allowing his face the small pleasure of crumbling with devouring desire. Then Sirius composed his face, ran his tongue over his now-chocolate-coated teeth and slinked back into the covers of his bed, once more drawing the blinds around to shield himself. He stayed up until dawn, doing his assignments and homework until he fell asleep, parchment stuck to his face when James woke him up in the morning for breakfast.

The bags under his large grey eyes were so deep, even Peter commented on them. Oblivious, shy Peter.

_xo_

When McGonagall called from within the confines of the enormous Transfiguration classroom, the line of first years standing just outside started to enter the huge room. It was surrounded by high windows and scattered around the room were cages for birds, some of which were inhabited by colourful species. Ornamenting the lavish stone walls were chalk boards with levitating pieces of coloured chalk dancing around them. McGonagall stood at her desk, several candles floating in the air and illuminating her hair, as she tightly surveyed the children.

'Settle down please,' she ordered, closing the door with a swing of her bare hand.

Sirius tiredly slumped into his chair, relaxing his usually upright posture and enjoying the rebelliousness of his simple shoulder-sag. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face the red-haired Mudblood who was frowning softly.

'Where's Remus?' she asked Sirius softly. He shrugged and she scowled in response, turning to ask Peter instead - and definitely not James, because she _hated_ James. Evans repeated the question and Peter told her softly that; 'His mother is sick so he's been allowed to leave and visit her.'

'Oh,' she frowned before saying quietly, 'well when he comes back, tell him I wish his mother the best' and then turned to her friend McKinnon to talk softly to her.

'Alright, attention,' McGonagall said, looking around once and commanding the silence she wanted. 'Today is going to be the first lesson where we actually apply the transformation formulas we have learnt in the previous lessons. We will be turning a matchstick-' she held up a thin, flimsy thing, 'into a needle.' With a wave of her wand the matchstick turned into a needle, even thinner and much shinier.

'I will give you until ten minutes before the lesson to practise the transformation. Then I will ask each of you to demonstrate your skills. We will spend two lessons on this because it is not as easy as one might assume.'

Chalk started scratching against the blackboard, writing three clear steps for the pupils to take:

_- Picture a needle in your head_  
><em>- Clearly envision the transformation taking place<em>  
><em>- Flick your wand upwards twice<em>

'Follow the steps carefully and you should all be able to, if not completely Transfigure the matchstick, at least alter its appearance. Good luck.'

James was the first to get it in the class, letting out a loud hoot and throwing his arms up in the air after ten minutes. Next it was a pretty Ravenclaw girl and then it was Sirius. He gritted his teeth at having come third and knew that his parents would shout at him should they ever find out - he had practised loose forms of Transfiguration at home before coming to Hogwarts and knew there was no reason for him not to get it first.

Sirius demonstrated the Transfiguration for Professor McGonagall, smiled tightly at her and then looked around. Whilst many people have caused some sort of change in their matchsticks, and quite a few Ravenclaws had also achieved the small triumph, Sirius was surprised to see how much the students around him were suffering. He almost wanted to laugh when at the end of the lesson, only four others had completed the transformation.

'Good efforts today, students,' McGonagall called. 'Homework is on the blackboard. It is due next lesson. Three inches on the Transfiguration of matchsticks into needles. You are-' the rippling bell interrupted her and as a result her tight lips loosened a little with a faint smile, 'dismissed.'

Sirius buried his hand in the layers of the robe he wore and pulled out some of the Honeydukes chocolate he had been gifted. A thought suddenly came over him. 'Guys, did any of you leave me some chocolate beside the candelabra near my bed?'

James shook his head but stole the piece Sirius was about to pop in his mouth, 'No, and I never would have given it to you if I had had some chocolate.'

The other smaller, frumpier blond boy also shook his head in slow imitation of James. 'No, I didn't leave you any. But I do have some to spare if you want some James.'

'Yes please!'

Sirius smiled softly when he realised it must have been Remus. He didn't quite know what to make of the other chap, similarly to how Peter was also part of an unknown circle to Sirius. The reason he and James got on like a house of fire was because they grew up with similar ideals and principles; perhaps less harsh for James but introduced and acknowledged by him nonetheless. They were from rich pureblood families, were the heirs to their family empires and were practically famous in the elitist pureblood system of Britain. Peter and Remus however were half-blood, not as financially well-off as the other two boys, more humble and just generally a lot different.

Perhaps it was this fact that left Sirius a little less eager to become as closely associated with them. Maybe it was even the pureblood heir in him that created this idea.

Sometimes Sirius hated the pureblood within him. It was what made his voice so posh, what had him turning his nose up at the foolish and ignorant actions of Mudbloods- what had him calling those with Muggle parents Mudbloods in the first place!

He trailed slowly behind the other two boys as they hurried to their next class - Herbology - where the greenhouses were lined with the delightfully bulbous pumpkins, already noticeably bigger.

_xo_

Remus barely remembered waking up, but it was when he exited the ether of Sleeping Draughts and Girding Potions (to help increase his endurance), he was aware of a soothing hand running through his hair and soft lips pressing messy kisses on his cheek and head of gold. He heard the soothing singing voice of his mother and could feel the rough, calloused hands of his father massage and knead his feet.

When he opened his mouth, he couldn't help but let out a sigh; restrained and well-welcomed. 'Mummy?'

'I'm here baby.' Her melodic voice breathed into his ear. 'You're so brave-'

'How long have I been here for?' he was still too scared to open his eyes, worried that the flood of light, already beating on his lavender eyelids, would blind him.

There was hesitation and Remus contemplated asking again when his father murmured shamefully, 'This is your third day son.'

His eyes flew open and he moaned low in his throat when blinding light attacked his delicate eyes. He quickly shut them and fluttered his eyelids in preparation, when after a silent minute filled with Remus gathering the courage, he slowly opened his eyelids once more.

Smiling at him brightly was his mother, her brown hair hanging down the sides of her face like he loved, and her large amber eyes boring into his. Remus leant up a bandaged hand to touch her hair as he said in a shaky voice, 'Three days?'

'You weren't very well, baby,' she said and a clear crystal tear rolled down the side of her face. He brushed it off and like the hypocrite he was, started to cry too. The pain he was in was minimal compared to the small snippet of it he remembered from the morning Madam Pomfrey collected him from the shack.

But what upset Remus most was the idea of how much school he had missed. He was already fighting for his place at Hogwarts; he didn't want to fall behind too. Professor Dumbledore had done him a great service of allowing him admittance into an otherwise very discriminative school (to half-breeds at least). The least Remus could do was get the best grades he was capable and he knew that being a werewolf would hinder that.

'On the plus side,' Lyall Lupin said from behind Remus, 'you have made a-'

'Splendid recovery, darling' a voice interrupted from the door. 'Sorry to intrude,' Madam Pomfrey said softly with a warming smile on her face. 'But you need to eat. Now. I've had to feed you through spells and they never give you the nutrients good, old-fashioned food can give you.' He saw behind her on a table, a feast set for a King.

She presented him with a bowl of porridge, cereal, some sausages, a few slices of bacon and toast, eggs and beans. Suddenly, he was ravenous and felt hunger stir through every fibre in his body. His stomach made a grumbling sound and he could barely wait to eat. 'Thanks Madam,' he said politely and his mother nodded.

Hope pushed Remus back softly when the matron left and unravelled one of the napkins to set on his chest. Remus let her do this because it was her way of dealing with him when he was hurting after a full moon. He knew he meant everything to her; he was her only child. She loved him so much. He acknowledged however that it made him feel like a baby.

He was a big boy; he was at Hogwarts and loving every minute of it.

'There you go baby.'

Remus thanked his mother and started stuffing egg, beans and sausage into his mouth whilst cramming bacon into a slice of bread. He gulped three glasses of pumpkin juice, another glass of water and finished with some nice porridge drizzled with honey. Remus felt more awake and let out a satisfied burp which left his parents laughing.

Hope Lupin shook her head and pressed another kiss to her son's forehead. 'You've been so brave.'

He chewed his lip whilst his mother complimented him some more. 'I am so proud of you darling. The wolf was...' her voice broke and she struggled to compose herself, 'the wolf was merciless but you didn't let it win. You're my little soldier.'

Pomfrey entered the separate recovery room again, this time holding a tray of potions and elixirs that she ordered him to drink and then presented him with a thick chunk of Honeydukes as a treat. 'You'll have to stay in bed for the rest of today if you hope to go to lessons the day after tomorrow-'

'The day after tomorrow?' Remus moaned, eyes alert and wide with annoyance and sadness. 'But Madam, I've already missed so much school. I can't afford to miss another day.'

'And I can't afford to have you get hurt on my watch, dear,' she said.

His wide molten amber eyes watered and he shook his head vehemently. 'But please Madam! The more school I miss, the more suspicious fellow students will get of me. I just want to be normal. I feel so much better already, and I'll take all the potions and elixirs you want me to take. I won't over-exert myself and I'll take it easy. But please don't make me miss another day. That'll mean I'll have almost a whole week of work to catch up on.' When she bit her lip and hesitated, he said once more in a pleading and desperate voice, 'Please Madam.'

With a shrill cry of 'Okay' and a finger being shook in his face, she began to outline all of the rules and regulations that he absolutely had to follow. Remus grinned his charming grin and nodded along with each word whilst his mother stroked his hair and his father resumed massaging his feet. They stayed for lunch with him and dinner; all the while reading him his favourite stories and playing Wizard Chess and Exploding Snap, all of which his father adamantly won and his mother laughed at.

Remus's stomach growled again and he blushed innocently, eyes flicking between both his parents who were engaged in a silent conversation. 'I think I'm hungry again.'

'Incorrigible,' his father laughed as his mother stroked his stomach and cursed Hogwarts' eating schedule. 'Actually,' Lyall told his wife with a loving kiss to her cheek, 'There are kitchens that students can access and it isn't strictly against the rules - teachers just won't tell you about it.'

'What?' Remus howled eagerly, cheeks glowing with excitement.

'Well, it's near the Hufflepuff Basement, in the corridor directly down the staircase leadng from the Great Hall. There's a portrait of fruit and if you tickle the green pear, it turns into a door nob. The house-elves are very accommodating as usual and eager even to feed you.'

Hope rolled her eyes and said in a mock-scolding voice, 'And how would you know?'

'My girlfriend during fifth year told me.' Lyall said with a cheeky grin.

His wife smacked him upside the head and said, 'No thinking about past girlfriends. You're with me now.' As she said this, she thread her fingers through his thick golden hair and dragged him in for a kiss.

'Guys,' Remus said but despite his protest, a small smile curled on his face and he settled back into the freshly washed sheets and double-padded cushions. It was times like this when he wasn't upset at life, wasn't upset at all. Until the wolf, lurking behind his skin and hair and eyes, growled softly and reminded Remus that he wasn't normal and his life was there to be upset about.

Perhaps that's what made him most sad. He was never going to escape the wolf.

_xo_

When Remus returned to the common room, it was with much appreciation from those he helped with his scheme of being:

The Fair and Very Helpful Agent for Those in Need of Homework Help.

Peter saw him and his face lit up with happiness. 'Yes, you're back.'

'Have a little grace Peter,' Sirius said as he sat opposite, legs thrown casually over the arm of the chair and head tilted down to read the book open in his hands. Then he looked up and said: 'Thanks for the chocolate.'

'You're welcome-' but he was cut off by James's loud voice and Peter's stuttering one.

Remus was bombarded with questions from the both of them; the former more enthusiastic when asking how Remus's mother was.

'Oh, right,' he said before hesitating. 'Erm, well my mother has asthma-' he said, struggling to come up with something. 'It gets pretty dangerous the colder the weather gets because it becomes easier for her to get common colds.'

'What's asthma?' asked James innocently.

'It's an allergy to dust which makes it hard to breathe. Luckily she's much better though, my dad brewed her a Cough Potion and Calming Draughts.'

'Well, I'm glad she's better. Fancy a game of Exploding Snap?' the bespectacled, boisterous boy cheered, arms waving in the air.

'Alright.'

'I'm playing too.' Peter supplied, licking traces of chocolate from around his mouth and setting it on the table.

The three of them turned to Sirius in unison.

'Fancy a game Black?' James challenged with a suggestive quirk of his eyebrows.

'You're on Potter.' He replied, putting his dog-eared book down.

The game, which moved to their dorm after half an hour and a lot of scolding from the Head Girl (for making too much noise) only finished when all four boys were missing chunks from their eyebrows. James, who they had all concluded was a very competitive person, turned it into a pillow/melted chocolate fight where they pulled each other's hair and weren't afraid to smother one another for thirty seconds or more.

Peter relented first, followed shortly by Remus, who decided that his body ached too much to continue. Whilst Sirius and James refused to acknowledge that they were both too competitive to give up, they decided to call it a truce and restart the game in the future.

It was with a tired but pleased half-smile that the golden-haired boy drifted off to sleep. He could almost hear his mother's soft singing voice in his ear, and her tight, loving arms around him. He loved his mother.

On the other side of his bed however, he could hear sniffling. It stirred a protectiveness within Remus. Maybe he didn't come from the same financial stability and regal upbringing as Sirius, but he had grown up in a home where his parents loved him despite him being a werewolf.

He got out of bed tiredly, pulled his satchel out from under his bed and scooped out the remains of the chocolate in the wrapper. He enveloped it in a roll of parchment, scrawled a name on it and placed it beside Sirius's candelabra. Then he slipped back into the covers of his bed, eyes closing on their own accord and body sagging into the sheets desperately.

Sleep reclaimed his body shortly after.

* * *

><p><em>Review?<em>


	4. Part One: III

_This is my favourite chapter so far, I hope it's yours._

_It's also the longest chapter yet... :)))_

* * *

><p><em>Part One<em>  
><em>III<em>

_James Potter was a weird fellow,_ Sirius concluded after he had the heart attack of a lifetime.

He had been innocently reading his favourite book _ever_ called _The Catcher in the Rye_, which had been given to him by his uncle Alphard. Reading a familiar book in a comforting and peaceful setting had lulled him into the book's world and thus the ignorance of anything going on around him. Perhaps this was what made it so easy for James to scare the soul out of Sirius.

He had been getting to one of the many _good-good _parts of the book when he heard words from a language he didn't recognise. What was worse was that the words sounded ominous and heart-breakingly scary, like Sirius was being cursed and threatened in whatever the language was.

Sirius's hand had shot up into his hair, the other clutching blindly for his wand as the book fell shut in his lap. 'Hello?' he had breathed in a voice much braver than he had felt at that time.

'Jeeby weevy ... desty pesty ... shoot you in your chesty chesty ... er ... avena bandena, wash wosh welp chelp-'

Sirius looked desperately around him, his heart all but leaping out of his irrational chest and his naive eyes watering as they searched for the ghost or spirit that was taunting him.

_This was it; the moment he was going to die._

He shut his large eyes as tightly as he could and braced himself for the inevitable blow when:

James threw off his cloak and fell to his knees as he laughed boundlessly. Tears fell from his eyes and his mouth was wide open in a bellowing roar. 'Oh Merlin,' he panted, struggling to catch his breath. 'Your - face - Merlin - y-you seemed - like - you - were g-going - to - choke-'

Sirius flung his book at James and watched as it smacked his friend in the face. 'That _wasn't_ funny,' he whispered. 'I almost had a heart attack-'

'I thought you _did_ have a heart attack.'

The silver-eyed boy paused for a moment and stared at the supple, flawless sheet of cloth in his friend's hands. It was like water, as each glint of light bouncing off the cloak brought with it an awe vibrancy and beauty. Suddenly he felt like he was placed in a world where everything was within easy grasp; where he could achieve what he wanted and could do what he wanted. Unlimited.

_Boundless._

'Is that an Invisibility Cloak?'

'The finest there is. Passed down for generations into my eager-'

'-soiled-'

'-and trustworthy hands from my father.'

Sirius laughed hysterically and then composed his face. 'That's brilliant. I'm almost as excited as you are. Imagine everything we could achieve-'

'-for the Halloween Feast-'

'-and the remaining seven years.' Sirius finished for him. He held out his hands, silent question on his face, and carefully examined the cloak. 'So is it a Hogwarts-coming-of-age present?' he asked.

James shrugged and said, 'Pretty much. My father enclosed a letter with the gift, telling me three things: not to mention this to my mother, not to get too carried away and to remember not to mention this to my mother.' They laughed jovially together and played with it; concealing their hands and feet whilst plotting what prank to pull with the cloak.

So far the only prank they had pulled off together had been when they unceremoniously threw dungbombs into the cauldrons of Snape, Avery and Macnair. Whilst Avery and Macnair could afford good cauldrons, and thus did not have to borrow or buy a new one, Snape's was clearly very cheap and poorly made (_probably from Knockturn_, Sirius thought with a sneer) because it erupted alongside the potion and bomb.

'Are you going to tell your mother?'

James shrugged. 'Probably will sometime in the summer or one of the holidays whilst I'm telling her about all the crazy stuff we'll get up to with it, but I hope I don't. All my mum will do is tell me off for an hour and then bake cookies.'

'Your mother sounds very nice.'

James laughed and threw the cloak over his body. 'Well of course she is. Aren't all mothers supposed to be nice?'

'Supposed to be, yeah,' Sirius said very quietly. Whether James heard or not, he changed the topic and asked Sirius if he wanted to join him under the cloak and terrorise some Slytherins. And despite his reluctance to wind up the Slytherins too much, considering that half the house mates were family members, Sirius nodded and slipped under the smooth cloak.

When an hour later Slughorn came down to the Slytherin common room to see what all the commotion was about, the two young boys from Dormitory Two of the Gryffindor House sat behind one of the sofas, draped in invisibility and hands covering their mouths to muffle their giggles. Many of the first and second year girls were almost in tears with fear whilst 'silly twats' (reference to James's earlier rant about silly twats and any consequent twatish tenancies) like Snape, Antonin from fourth year and Dolohov from sixth year, brandished their wands and threatened to kill any ghost they saw.

_xo_

Remus sat with Peter in their dormitory, books spread on the chubby boy's bed and a bar of _Honeydukes' finest_ set out beside them.

Remus was going through some Transfiguration homework with the other boy when the dormitory door creaked open. They hardly noticed though, internally attributing the door opening to the draft that the half-open window must have sent in.

'... essentially everything you need to talk about in the mini essay.'

'But it's an essay! Why can't McGonagall be kind and set us something easy like "read this chapter" and "answer these questions in one sentence".'

Remus laughed. 'Because she's McGonagall.' He reached down to break off some more chocolate and pop the beautiful brown block of heaven into his mouth. 'This is good chocolate Peter.'

'It's this new and exclusive brand they're making for Halloween. I'm trying to persuade my mum to send me a year's worth because it's so good but she says she can't get away with that, which sucks. I also have to make this bar last for the rest of today which I'm not sure I can do-' his cheeks coloured a particularly amusing shade of fuchsia.

'For the rest of today?' The other blond asked with wide golden brown eyes, disbelief riddled on his chocolate-induced-pleasure-riddled face. 'I think I'd have a hard time trying to make it last an hour.'

'Who knew pumpkin seeds and cinnamon would be such a good combination?' Peter said softly as he reached for the chocolate bar that had been resting beside him. His hands came back empty. 'Can I have the chocolate Remus?'

'It's not here,' Remus replied, looking around his body for the glint of orange foil and peeping brown chocolate. He lifted his books and scrolls of parchment, but the chocolate was not there. He and Peter spent a minute looking for it, surprised that it had disappeared when it had been right between them. 'Are you ...' Remus turned a little pink and said even more quietly whilst checking under his pillow, 'Are you sure you didn't eat all of it?'

The chubby boy opened and closed his mouth for a moment before he said (with more indignation than he had ever before displayed) 'I did not!'

'Sorry Peter, I didn't mean to insult you.'

'Are you sure you didn't eat all of it,' Peter said with a touch of offence in his voice.

'I'm not even sure-'

'Hey!' Peter cried as the window slammed shut with more force than a mere gust of wind could exert.

Remus grabbed his wand. He knew one defensive spell but the question was whether he would use it if he had to.

'R-Remus, what's h-happening?'

'I don't know,' he said dismissively, eyes searching for whatever the apparition or spell work was. Whether a poltergeist, a ghost or simply an enchantment, Remus had no idea. He just knew that he was scared.

The scrolls of parchment on the bed started hovering and circling the heads of the two blond boys.

And then the humming began, and it was terrifying. Peter cried aloud and jumped behind Remus on the bed, cowering away from where the noise was coming from.

'Stupefy-' Remus shouted, and whilst the spell didn't have the desired effect, light did explode from the end of his wand.

There was a ripple in the air, like time and space had been interrupted by the spell. Something that could not have possibly happened, most certainly under the effects of a poorly cast Stupefy Charm.

'Stupefy-' he cried and out under a veil of invisibility and deception rolled the lean body of Sirius Black, chocolate in his hand and an expression of pure happiness on his face.

'Brilliant,' they both said at the same time.

James threw off his cloak and asked indignantly, 'What's brilliant?'

'His spell-'

'The cloak-'

'My chocolate!' Peter cried, pulling the bar of chocolate off the distracted hands of Sirius.

'What was that ball of light that you threw at me and Sirius?' James was shouting now so his voice could be heard of Peter's whining.

'The Stunning Spell,' Sirius answered for Remus with a half-smile. 'A spell that we are not going to learn for another two years.' Then, rather impatiently, he turned back to Remus. 'How did you learn the spell?'

'My father taught me a few days before I left for Hogwarts. He said he didn't like the idea of me being defenceless in such a big, dangerous school.'

Sirius nodded, his beam growing larger and all the more brighter. 'I think the reason your spell didn't have the desired effect is because you didn't accentuate the difference between the soft stroke,' he flicked his wand up once softly, 'and the second stroke which is a lot harder,' his wand came crashing down.

'You know the spell?' Remus asked with the same pleased twinkle in his eye.

With only a brief wink directed at Remus and James, Sirius turned to face Peter who sat on his bed and was eating the chocolate. 'Stupefy,' he said, a soft stroke of his wand followed by a hard one. Peter collapsed backwards onto the bed, the bar of chocolate slipping between his dormant fingers.

'See,' Sirius said with a self-accomplished purse of his lips as he walked over to Peter and took the Honeydukes chocolate from under the blond boy's hand. 'Chocolate, anyone?'

'Incorrigible.'

James shrugged and broke off a piece, sitting on the edge of his bed and asking, 'So … anyone fancy teaching me that neat little stunning trick?'

_xo_

The Stunning Spell incident established quite a few things. For one it taught the four boys that they were now "the best of friends". By that, what they meant was that they realised how much more they could get on that they previously attempted. That was not to say that they did not like each other before; in fact, they got on very well. It was just that they didn't spend every waking minute together prior to the Stunning Spell incident.

_Now they do._

In lessons, during lunch, before and after dinner and then for the rest of the evening (and night when it was a weekend).

Which brought them to the current situation.

Sirius, Remus, James and Peter were crammed under the huge expanse of the Invisibility Cloak, following the directions Remus gave them to the least popular prefect's bathroom. Rumour had it that the prefects' bathrooms were like huge swimming pools, with so many different charms and spells cast on the rooms.

Sirius, James and Peter had discovered that Remus was a lot more mischievous than teachers and other students knew him to be. An example of this would be the current situation at hand; he was the one who found out what the password was to the prefects' bathrooms and had let them in on the secret.

Not that the others hadn't supplied something. After Remus shared the secret with them, several contributions were made. James offered his cloak for use and his Quaffle to play with, Peter packed lots of Honeydukes chocolate for them to eat whilst swimming in the baths and Sirius offered to pay for all of them to get swimming attire using a fast-track owl from _Wizard's Wonderful Wardrobe Warehouse_, all of which arrived in the morning. Whilst the others protested, Sirius told them plainly that: 'I'm the only one who can get them to send us the trunks by tomorrow. I can afford to and my father has previously invested in the company.'

So it was with much excitement and happiness (and a bag full of chocolate) the boys hurried to the bathroom, giggling ecstatically. They wore the swimming trunks Sirius had paid for - all of which had Halloween designs because it was days before the holiday, and were therefore the cheapest ones Sirius could get on such short notice.

Luckily, they could all swim. Whilst Remus, James and Peter had learnt because of family and were eager to recount their tales on the way to the bathroom of how they learnt to swim, they all got the distinct feeling that Sirius didn't want to tell them how he learnt. Had he really forgotten, like he had said when asked how he learnt?

With a soft bite of his lip, Remus imagined a young Sirius being thrown into a river and forced to swim. He shook his head but laughed, albeit nervously, when it hit James's head. He forgot that space was so tight under the cloak.

'You're elbowing me in the bloody back Peter,' Sirius hissed, throwing his own elbow into Peter's stomach.

'Hey! I never meant to hurt you!' Peter mumbled indignantly. 'It was an accident.'

'Well make sure it doesn't happen again-'

'Shhh! Stop arguing!' Remus whispered impatiently. 'Can you hear that?' It was the sound of footsteps, the kind of slow and deliberate footsteps that struck fear into the heart of anyone listening.

The sound got closer and closer, yet the group of four were frozen to the spot, eyes moving from side to side. Then they could hear whistling; high-pitched, insanely atonal and rather disgusting, if a noise like whistling could ever be _considered_ disgusting.

Maybe it's because all four boys instantaneously knew that the footsteps were from the shoes of one smelly Angus Filch. He was taking what appeared to be a casual stroll with his grey cat.

'…can see a nice house on th' sea side, when we can both retire from this rotten school and get away from these nasty kids … bloody Dumbledore-'

'Meow.'

'Good kitty,' Filch breathed, mere centimetres from where James's face was. The young boy held his breath, conscious that if he even made a single noise or rapid movement under the tightly-packed cloak, they would be caught.

Filch murmured more nonsense to his cat as he walked slowly by the group of four. 'You recognise this song, kit?'

'Meow.'

He started whistling at the top of his grimy, infected lungs and even started to do a ridiculous jig as he stood exactly in front of Sirius and James. Both boys turned to face each other and slapped their hands on one another's mouths, instantly recognising that they would both collapse into laughter in mere seconds.

Their eyes started watering after a tense minute of watching Filch dance. It was James who cracked first, letting a high-pitched giggle escape when Filch attempted to click his heels together.

The caretaker's distorted body snapped upright, back straight as a ruler and his bottom lip quivering. His cat started meow-ing as it turned in a circle, trying to spot the noise-maker.

'Did you hear that kitty?'

'Meow.'

'I'm not going mad, am I?'

'Meow.'

It was Remus who breathed as quietly as humanly possible into their ears, 'Shuffle backwards as quietly as you can, or the cat will get us.'

The cat's head snapped up to them and it meowed very softly at first. The four boys began to walk faster, albeit the lack of co-ordination an increasing speed brought to them.

It trotted towards them and Sirius was almost tempted to kick the cat, when Filch shook his head.

'There's nothing there kitty darling, I bet it's just that rotten poltergeist Peeves. Don't worry my sweet, I'll send the Bloody Baron this way...' Filch muttered darkly, swooping down to sweep the cat into his arms as he hurried off down the corridor.

The group of boys waited a tense moment before sighing in relief and slumping a little together.

'Merlin's pants,' James said, 'I thought that was it. I thought that Filch would send the cloak back to my parents and have us put in detention for a month or something.'

'Same here,' Sirius said, 'only I imagined him feasting on all our chocolate too.'

'Stupid caretaker,' Peter murmured under his breath.

With a smile and a tug on the cloak, Remus said, 'Whilst we're safe now, we shouldn't gamble our safety. Let's just carry on ... the door's right there … Profunde Mundus!'

The huge door, stone and with intricately detailed carvings on the front, opened slowly. They waited until they were all inside and the door was locked before throwing the cloak off.

The bathroom was _enormous._

There were different levels of deepness depending on the bath tubs, of which there were seven cavernous ones. In addition to this there were taps, baskets and instructions for spells covering the rim of the baths and the parts of the walls.

Their mouths were wide open as they struggled to take in the huge room as quickly as possible, heads twitching from side to side.

'This really is the stuff of legends,' James breathed in awe. He turned the knobs of some of the taps and watched as different coloured, flavoured and textured water shot out. The next row controlled the bubbles and the type of bubbles they were. Another row shot out some harmless water bombs, filled with perfume whereas the taps opposite controlled the temperature of the water.

'Guys,' Sirius said calmly after half an hour spent exploring the huge room and the different pools, 'aren't we supposed to be swimming?'

They played four matches of what could be considered one of the best games to have ever been created. It was Quidditch in water! It was also Quidditch with two players on each team, not seven, and the only ball used was the Quaffle. There were also no goal posts or nets which meant that the consideration over whether something counted as a goal or not was completely subjective and therefore not very fair at all.

Whoever could argue the best about whether an attempted goal was in fact an actual goal made Remus the highest scorer of the match, simply because Peter, James and Sirius couldn't be bothered to argue back to such a level-headed person like Remus.

'Give us some chocolate, Pete,' James said as he put his glasses back on and shook his head, further disgracing his already messy, dishevelled hair.

'Your hair is naturally curly,' Remus said, pulling on the soft lock of black hair of Sirius's.

The other boy shook his head whilst another conversation took place between Peter and James over what chocolate was the best, and why they believed that Honeydukes was getting better and better.

'It's curly but I usually just comb it until it's straight and use this _Sleakeazy's Straightening Hair Potion_ my mother buys me.'

Remus touched the curls again; it was almost corkscrew tight and really was silky soft. 'I like your hair when it's curly.'

'I would but it gets in the way a lot of the time. It's just easier to handle when it's straight.' He grinned in amusement, eyes flicking up to look at the other two boys before they began to follow the smiles chasing themselves across Remus's lips with fondness. 'What's so funny?'

Remus's lips shook a little before he laughed. 'Just that I never pictured you with curly hair. You suit it though.'

'I also look like I'm half my age.'

'No, you're way too tall to be five and a half.'

They chuckled together and reached over to steal some chocolate from Peter. 'I'm glad you think the only thing that sets me aside from a five and a half year old is my height. Not my intelligence, not my wit nor my devilish good looks-'

'Five year olds can be cute.'

'You just said it yourself!' Sirius said triumphantly, licking his lips. 'Five year olds can be cute. Not handsome or charming, only cute.'

'Oh shut up,' Remus said, snatching the piece of chocolate in Sirius's hands and throwing it into his mouth.

'Sirius-One,'

'Remus-Five-Thousand?'

Sirius stuck his tongue out and pushed Remus into the bath rub, only to be dragged down into it as well. Both boys then teamed up to drag Peter and James down and it really was one of the best weekends of Sirius's life, even if it did mean that he didn't sleep the following night to complete all his homework.

_xo_

When Halloween came, it was as if overnight the castle had transformed. Flanking the Entrance Hall doors were two bulbous pumpkins, exploding with juice and weight. They had expressions carved into their faces, and for everyone who walked past, were greeted with a screech of "Happy Halloween!"

Until one of the Seventh Years changed the Animation Enchantments on the pumpkins sometime between lunch and dinner, and they started shouting insults at one another.

'Fat, ugly ball!'

'Wart-face!'

'Fatty!'

'You're fatter than me!'

Whilst Sirius walked past, he laughed and murmured to the left-pumpkin, 'Your mum's fat.'

'WE HAVE THE SAME MUM YOU FOUL, SMELLY PLUMPKIN!'

'TAKE THAT BACK-'

The further into the hall the group of four got, the more distant the bellowing voices of the pumpkins grew.

And wasn't the Great Hall _a sight?_

Pumpkins adorned all of the tables, candles floated through the air and over the heads of all the students and swooping around in the air were flocks of bats, disappearing through the large Great Hall doors and reappearing minutes later. The knights were each dressed up in costumes of vampires and werewolves, trolls and seers. It was fantastic.

Even Professor Dumbledore was wearing a hat with skulls on it.

Remus's head followed any and everything for as long as it could; he spotted the fight going on near the Ravenclaw table between one of the pumpkins and an older student who brandished his wand threateningly at the fruit. Looking up at the enchanted ceiling, the moon was charmed to be full, and the stars were as vivid as ever.

'…didn't seem like the kind of guy to know his Astronomy all that well is all,' James said a little defensively when Sirius flicked his head.

'Well of course I have to know my Astronomy. Most of my family are named after constellations and stars, including me.'

'Bit arrogant of your family mate,' James said, earning a guffaw from Peter, who was snickering behind the scarce remains of his fourth wild berry muffin.

'I like my name,' Sirius said, sipping his juice. 'You see that star over there-' he pointed upwards, towards the moon.

'No I don't unfortunately. There are about a million up there-'

'Shut up. Try and find the brightest one you can. Go on.' The other boy encouraged, eyes glued to his namesake star.

'Are you talking about the one directly under the moon?' James asked.

Sirius nodded. 'The big bright one. That's Sirius, the dog star in the constellation of Canis Major.'

They paused and all stared up at the mesmerising sky, a collision of different hues and shades of midnight blue with splatters of silver and white; the stars and the moon.

'Is it meant to be that bright?'

The long-haired boy nodded. 'Yes. Sirius is the brightest star in the night's sky-'

'Oh of course you would be named after the brighest star. Your parents are about as conceited and pompous as humanly possible. They're the kind of people that would want to name their heir after the brightest star in the night's sky. What about "the spare" brother? Is your younger brother named after the second brightest star?'

The grey-eyed boy shrugged, pouring himself some more pumpkin juice and throwing a few of Bertie Bott's Halloween Treats into his mouth. 'I'm pretty sure the second brightest star is Canopus. My brother is named after the twentieth brightest star.'

'Which is...?' Remus interfered, amusement written all over his face.

'Regulus.'

'Right, very normal names. Sirius and Regulus,' interjected Peter with a snicker, only partially supported by a half-smile from James.

'Shut up. At least my name isn't a ridiculously common name like Peter. I bet I could shout out Peter now and half the hall would look up.'

'Hush, Dumbledore's speaking...' the busybody voice of Lily Evans hissed from the other side of the table.

The group of boys looked up to face Professor Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the whole of Britain. He was a brilliant man and wizard, who carried neither stereotype nor any judgements of people he didn't know.

He could take a look at Sirius and deduce several things: his pure blood, his rich upbringing, the level of conditioning he had gone through when he was a lot younger and most importantly, how much he did not want to be the son his parents wanted and forced him to be.

Sirius felt like Dumbledore looked at him past his half-moon spectacles, and beneath the long, distractingly silver beard, he almost spotted a small smile.

'Happy Halloween, Hogwarts! I hope the elves have made you proud with their food and decorations,' there was a pause in which a few students (mostly the Mudbloods and a few half-bloods) applauded the elves. Dumbledore smiled patiently again and then said, 'Let us also thank Professor Sprout for _producing _the splendid pumpkins and Professor McGonagall for _charming_ the splendid pumpkins. I'd also like to thank Mr Thomas Ebrey for turning the pumpkins into-'

'Animals, the lot of them,' shouted Sprout from the other side of the table. 'We'll have to roast them all, insufferable fruit.'

There was chuckling around the hall and Dumbledore allowed the students a few seconds to get out their excitement and focus on the words he was now saying.

'The first Hogsmeade weekend is next week. All students who have not got authorisation to attend may speak to their Heads of Houses and get letters sent home to receive the needed authorisation...'

James tapped Sirius on the shoulder and whispered into his ear, 'Want to play a prank?'

'Have you prepared any pranks?'

The messy-haired pureblood grinned and said softly, 'Those with natural talent don't need to plan anything. Come on, let's just go to the toilet.'

'Where are you both going?' Peter asked when they both stood up and attempted to make off together.

'Toilet, care to join us?'

Some girls beside Evans started whispering about how they now needed to go to the toilet.

Peter bit his lip and turned to face Remus. 'I need to go toilet now...'

James started grinning and elbowed Sirius to catch his attention; 'It's like clockwork-'

'What?' the other two dorm mates asked, thoroughly confused.

'Hush, will you?' Evans snapped impatiently, 'I can hardly hear what Dumbledore is saying.' The girls sitting beside her stood up and left to go to the toilet briskly. They were young girls who naturally felt shy standing in a huge and mostly unknown setting. More so with hundreds of boys, cute or not, their age or much older, around them.

'We're just going to the toilet Evans, I don't know why that's got you so riled up,' Sirius said as smoothly and haughtily as he could.

Her cheeks pinked slightly, a colour that went well with her head of scarlet hair. With squinted eyes and a scowl on her face, she turned to her friend Mary Macdonald. 'I didn't know boys flock together to the toilets like birds.'

Macdonald smiled softly and nodded, maybe just to be a good friend or maybe because she actually agreed with Evans.

'Have fun in the toilets, boys,' she said. Lily waved mockingly as James, Sirius and Peter glowered at her and made their slow and casual walk towards the Great Hall doors, flanked by the bulbous pumpkins.

'God,' she murmured under her breath, just loud enough for those in the immediate vicinity to hear. 'They're so childish.' She spotted Remus listening and turned a smile to him. 'Who knows what mischief they'll get up to. I don't know why you hang out with them Remus. You're so much smarter than them.'

'Er … they're my friends.'

'Well you should choose better friends. Like Bertram Aubrey in Dormitory One.'

In unison, the three eleven year olds turned to face Aubrey, sitting on the other side the huge Gryffindor table, near the fourth years Fabian and Gideon Prewett; the twins.

Remus shivered. Aubrey was a ridiculously obnoxious and rude boy, who had already been threatened with a dungbomb attack every morning from James after their first week at Hogwarts.

'I'm actually going to catch up with my mischievous, dumb friends. Nice to speak to you again Evans.'

'Remus,' she said, a hint of a smile colouring her lips. 'You're missing the announcements-'

She was mostly wrong, the announcements had finished now. In their place, Flitwick was arranging his choir on stage for a performance before everyone could tuck into the great feast, though some did try to inconspicuous have a mouthful of mash.

Remus followed very swiftly after his friends, and could almost pretend like his leg still wasn't hurting almost a week after the full moon.

It seemed the second one had not been much better than the first.

_Pity._

'Guys, wait,' Remus called, his limp almost imperceptible. His three friends turned to face him and were restraining grins, James's perhaps the most botched attempt at indifference whilst Sirius was much more accomplished. 'What are we doing?'

'Going down in Hogwarts history...'

The Great Food Fight of 1971 was what would surely go down in history. What started off concealed under the confines of the cloak (a handful of mash potato to Snape's face) ended up involving every single student, prefect or not, with even the teachers joining in once accepting that the damage was done and the students were not going to be stopping any time soon.

Whilst the Invisibility Cloak remained a secret to the teachers, McGonagall had some how fantastically managed to induce that it was the group of Dormitory Two that had started the food fight. Sirius was adamant that Evans must have told McGonagall they left the hall minutes before the food fight started, as he described it: '…the fact that she's best friend's with the slimeball is incentive enough...'

McGonagall's lips quivered throughout her telling-off the group of four, calling them 'DISGRACES TO THE GRYFFINDOR HOUSE', threatening to 'SEND LETTERS HOME AND FLOO CALL PARENTS' and calling them 'MARAUDERING, MISCHIEVOUS TROUBLE MAKERS'.

Thus, _the Marauders_ were named and they got their first ever group detentions cleaning up the Great Hall after the mess everyone made.

'It's hardly a punishment,' Sirius said after an hour of cleaning.

'You can say that again,' James murmured, brushing some more tart on the floor into a rubbish bag.

'No really, this has got to be the worst punishment ever. For one, it's only going to last a few hours because they can't have food smeared all of the hall for so long. They've also got an army of house-elves born to do what they're trying to make us do. House-elves who are probably eagerly waiting to finish up what we've started. Lastly of course is that there's still so much food left and I hardly got to eat anything in the first place. Who's here to stop us from just sitting around and eating?'

Peter had actually been sitting at the Slytherin table for the past ten minutes, eating some roast potatoes and beef and humming happily to himself.

'Yeah,' James interjected with more eagerness and spirit now, rubbish bag already on the floor at his feet. 'They probably don't even expect to notice a difference by the time someone comes back to pick us up. There's so much mess.'

Him and Sirius sat at the Hufflepuff table, closest to where they were and also with many meals untouched by the antics the food fight had inspired in the students. For a few minutes, the boys sat and ate greedily before they noticed that Remus had yet to sit down and partake.

'Remus?' asked James, voice a little more soft than when speaking to the other two.

Maybe, Remus's voice echoed in the cavern of his mind, James noticed how weak Remus was. Maybe he was a lot less forward with Remus, a lot more tentative around him because he thought Remus wasn't capable of the behaviour and tomfoolery that Sirius and Peter were capable of.

_Had he found out about Remus's condition._

He shook his head and looked up with a slow smile at James. 'Yeah?'

'Why don't you eat something before they come?'

Peter nodded and pointed at his plate of orange pie. 'This is really good.'

'Maybe …' there was a pause and then; 'Maybe just a small plate of some of that pie.'

The second group detention the boys got was for 'Not complying to the explicit rules of which the previous detention had'. In post script, it then said in smaller writing; 'And for not even pretending to be cleaning'.

_McGonagall has a wicked sense of humour,_ Remus thought as he enclosed the detention slip in his letter to his parents. Whilst he knew that they would not appreciate him messing about during school, he knew their appreciation for his happiness would outweigh any disdain. He knew that his mother would just be happy to _know_ he was having fun because by Merlin, he deserved it.

Remus slipped into the warm and welcoming folds of his bed and fell asleep with a wide smile on his face.

He liked the name the _Marauders.__  
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_Thanks for the guest reviews from Rose and guest-reviewer._


	5. Part One: IV

_Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter._

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><p><em>Part One<br>IV_

'Young master?' the tentative and soft voice breathed from the other side of the kitchen. It was the voice of one of the last house-elves to be awake. 'Can Blinky bring you anything more?'

'No,' the croaky voice of Sirius's said after a minute's silence, 'no. That will be all, elf.'

'Master should be going sleep.'

'I will in a bit, I just want to finish my milk and then I promise I'll head to bed.'

'Master's got to be up for breakfast tomorrow for the last day of term and it's four in the morning already.' Blinky said softly, enormous hazel green eyes boring into Sirius's own without blinking once and thus rendering the elf's name a contradiction.

'Goodnight, elf,' he dismissed quietly, looking down at his lap at the letter from his family.

The letter had certainly not been the most rude or nasty he had received, although maybe that just proved how used to abusive letters Sirius was. It was from his mother, and though indirectly she was wishing him a happy birthday for the weekend, she was also reminding him that he was to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, which were starting tomorrow.

He was going to be twelve on Saturday and he wasn't even a little excited. Peter, Remus and James were all going home for the holidays and whilst Sirius told them that he _opted_ to stay at school, he didn't want to be at the school without his friends.

In silence, he finished his sixth glass of milk, the last cookie on the plate in front of him and said goodbye to the few elves still in the kitchen; something that James taught him to do.

James was teaching Sirius a lot of things; namely how not to sound so cultured, how to loosen up a bit when around "Mudbloods" and most importantly, not to call them "Mudbloods" in the first place. So far, words like "blimey", "bloody" and "whatever" had been fluently incorporated into Sirius's vocabulary so much so that he didn't even have to _try_ to use them.

Meandering through the halls of Hogwarts, Sirius marvelled at how late it was and consequently, how quiet the school itself was. He was sure even Filch must have been sleeping; the horrid caretaker had to rest sometimes.

The halls were adorned with magical mistletoe which trapped any two people who happened to walk under it together, irrespective of gender or age, and wouldn't release them until they kissed. The suits of armour wore hats, scarves and even had holly stuck to them. The trees were colossal, twelve enormous and dazzlingly decorated fir and pine trees with glittering stars at the top, fairies flying about them and baubles changing colours.

The school felt more like a home to Sirius than Grimmauld Place ever had.

Sirius had already learnt a few of the shortcuts in the school; such as how to get from Transfiguration all the way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts department in mere seconds when usually, it took the best five minutes to hurry there. He had also, with the help of Remus, James and Peter, discovered the portrait near the Gryffindor common room that deposited them right outside the kitchens.

Sirius however was not using this shortcut to get back to the common room. He wanted to take his time getting back before he had to feign sleep, because sleeping was the last thing on his mind. But then of course, Sirius came across a situation he really never thought he would come across: Narcissa was with a Gryffindor, maybe in the year below her but still at least a head taller. He was counting a bag of galleons that she had just handed him whilst she inspected a small vial and waited impatiently for him to give her the 'oh-kay'.

'All the money is there-'

'No tip?' the boy asked with a sly grin as he slinked a little closer to her.

'For what? Providing me with a Contraception Potion a week late?'

The boy touched her cheek and she slapped it away. 'For keeping your sexual activities a _secret_,' he purred.

Sirius watched as Narcissa buried a hand in her pocket and threw some coins at him. He caught a few of them, letting the rest fall to the ground beside him.

'Thanks Cissy,' he called, a nickname Sirius only ever heard his family using; not even Malfoy who had been Narcissa's betrothed since they were children.

'Shut - up,' she said, glaring at the Gryffindor like he was the most vile being on the earth, and meaning every second of it. 'Are we done?'

The boy leaned towards her but she moved back, glaring once more at him and then leaving. The boy laughed after her, bending to pick up the fallen galleons and sickles and chuckling all the while.

Sleep came uneasily to Sirius. He realised that whilst he did not love his family as much as he perhaps had once, he felt so sorry for Narcissa. Especially if she needed a potion to get better but had to buy it from a kid in the year below.

The thing was however that ... Sirius had not learnt yet what sex really was. And much later on, he would look back at the memory and laugh at how ignorant he had once been, not realising that he was still ignorant to the trials and woes of life for a pureblood woman from an elite family.

_xo_

It was Friday, the last day of school. After lessons finished, which were really just an array of fun activities to do during the lessons, there was a nice atmosphere around the common room before dinner. Students doing O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s were even relaxing lazily about the common room, many of them going home the next day.

The air was chilly and cold, December having come faster than Sirius thought possible. The whole while, he'd had the most fun at school. Lessons were not too challenging, the letters from his parents had stemmed in flow and weekends were as fun as ever with the Marauders. Since the prior event of the Great Food Fight of 1971, the boys had "launched" two more pranks, both of which they had swiftly got away with.

Sirius was lounging in the common room with his Marauder dorm mates. James lay on the other side of the sofa, Peter on an armchair beside them and Remus stretched out of the floor, drawing a picture with Peter's Honeydukes quill.

'What you drawing Remus?' asked James.

The blonde boy looked up, shaking his head a little to get the hair out of his face. 'Some blueprints.'

'Of what?' Peter questioned excitedly, repeatedly looking at James to capture his attention.

'I've drawn out the whole school and I'm trying to add all the passageways, shortcuts and secret rooms we've discovered. I've done all the passageways but I'm stuck with the shortcuts and secret rooms-'

'There's the kitchens-'

'Got that,' Remus said to James.

'What about the room opposite the statue of Helga Hufflepuff? The one where the door appears if you touch the walls opposite-'

'Yeah,' Remus said, drawing it out very slowly. After five minutes of carefully calculated sweeps of the chocolate-coloured quill, he looked at the three boys. 'Anything else?'

'The shortcut to Charms from the West Courtyard, from that small door opposite the water fountain?' James contributed again, tapping his lip with a pen slowly.

'I love that shortcut, so efficient,' Peter said slowly, desperate to make his addition heard by guffawing after.

'Definitely,' said James dismissively. 'There's also one that I feel like I'm missing...'

'That would be,' began Sirius, placing his book on his chest and running a hand through his hair, 'the portrait near the Gryffindor common room. Takes us right outside the entrance to the kitchens-'

They all grinned, dreamily thinking of how many times that quick shortcut had saved them. 'Actually,' began James, turning to Peter, 'that's the best shortcut.'

The chubby blond boy nodded, a bright smile on his face.

'So, is it like a map?' asked James, who was currently playing with his Quaffle and showing off his skills at throwing it as high as possible and easily catching it with one hand.

'Yeah, I guess so,' said Remus. 'Just so we don't forget all the shortcuts and rooms we've discovered because it's only been a term and we've already learnt so much about this school-'

'That makes sense! Imagine how much more we'll discover by the end of the year-' James replied.

'Or at the end of seven years here?' Sirius added with a quirk of his eyebrow.

James threw his Quaffle into the air as he said, 'I can't wait,' when all of a sudden, he jumped up and turned around, seemingly because the Quaffle didn't fall into his co-ordinated hand like he expected. The four boys simultaneously look up at the twins, devilish and with cunning smiles on their faces. One of them was holding James's Quaffle.

'So these are the four?' Fabian (or Gideon) asked his twin brother.

'The Marauders,' Gideon (or Fabian) replied with a smirk. 'The ones who are stealing our thunder-'

'There wasn't _any thunder_ to steal in the first place,' Sirius laughed. 'Who are you guys?'

'Hogwarts' best pranksters.'

'That's right Gid!'

'Hogwarts' best pranksters?' asked James as he snatched his Quaffle back and flopped down onto the sofa, narrowly missing Sirius's feet. 'But we've never even heard of you, let alone witnessed one of your pranks.'

'We prefer to work covertly.' The one who appeared to be Gideon said. 'McGonagall's been lecturing us for years, so we've toned it down significantly.'

'Yeah right,' scoffed Sirius.

'Really,' Fabian shouted, 'ask anyone here.'

The group of six scoured the common room for one whom they believed would be objective but would also have been in Hogwarts when Fabian and Gideon threw their pranks. Collectively, they settled on Frank Longbottom, a prefect and a chaser, who was also a year or two older than the Twins.

'Frankie!' one of the twins cried. 'Come over here.'

Frank Longbottom was in the middle of a conversation with a girl, dark-haired and very pretty with pale skin. He swooped down to kiss her before he took her hand and dragged her with him to where the first years were sat on the sofas and the twins were towering over them.

'What's up twins?'

'We have names,' Fabian mock-scowled.

'Anyway,' Gideon interfered. 'We need your help putting these kids back onto earth. You see, they think they're better pranksters then us.'

'The Marauders,' the other brother whispered with a glare to Sirius.

Frank looked at each of the first years, first Remus, still sat beside the fire but with a folded piece of parchment now set out in front of him. Next was Peter, shyly hiding behind his fringe of brilliantly bright blond hair. James and Sirius both sat on the sofa which the elder students were crowded around, legs over each other's as they fought to get more comfortable than one another.

'Hello boys,' Frank said. 'You were the ones who started the Great Food Fight, right?'

Remus nodded. 'We also hung all of the seventh year Slytherin underwear from the Great Hall ceiling-'

'How on earth did you manage that, by the way?' Gideon laughed. 'McGonagall kept giving me the eye, like she thought it was me and Fab.'

'That was a brilliant prank,' the pretty girl said. 'Very well done.'

'You shouldn't compliment them Alice,' scolded one of the Twins. 'They'll get even more insufferably arrogant!'

'Insufferably arrogant?' Sirius repeated, voice more haughty than usual. 'We're simply enlightening you to the fact that we are the best pranksters in Hogwarts.'

Frank and his girlfriend Alice were deliberating, looking between both groups. Then at the same time, they said two very different answers-

'The Marauders-' said Alice.

'The Twins-' Longbottom replied. 'Wait, what?' he asked. 'Remember their _priceless_ prank Alice, last year, when they blew up the toilets near the Slytherin common room and it flooded both their common room and their dorms.'

'That's hardly a prank though,' she told her boyfriend. 'That was accidental, right twins?'

'We have names-' Fabian began but was interrupted by his brother who admitted with pink cheeks, 'It was an accident, fine. But it served just as well as a prank. The Slytherins stunk of toilet water for at least a week.'

'Our prank was better though,' James said defensively. 'Just last week we covered all of the Slytherin common sofas and chairs with _Smelton's Super Sticky Syrup_ and they couldn't get up for six hours. Even McGonagall couldn't figure out why when Slughorn went to get her.'

'That was you?' Frank hissed under his voice. 'McGonagall was furious about that. She said to me and the other prefects that if we find out who it was, we should tell her.'

Remus smiled sweetly up at Frank. 'Please don't. We really would prefer not to spend the next year in detention.'

'Ah-ha!' Fabian burst out, throwing himself in the gap between Sirius and James on the sofa, and pulling out a packet of Liquorice Laces. 'We've had more detentions then you. Pranksters always get detentions-'

'Not good ones,' quipped Sirius, pinching a lace from Fabian's packet. 'The art to mischief and marauding is never getting caught.'

'Actually, getting caught is the fun part. It's all well and dandy having everyone go through a prank but it's even better when they know who it is making them go through the prank.'

'Besides,' Gideon said in support of his twin brother, 'because no one knows that you've been behind the last few pranks, they probably think it's me and Fab.'

'I did think that prank where the Slytherins were glued to common room surfaces was done by you Twins,' Alice said with a nod of her pretty head.

The four first years turned expressions of horror onto one another. James was cracking his knuckles threateningly whilst Peter was vehemently shaking his head. Remus's bottom lip was quivering with despair whereas Sirius was straightening up and shaking hair out of his face in preparation for the long rant he would deliver to the Twins. He took a deep breath and exploded with:

'You guys are pathetic! Just because your pranks are so … so ... un-prank-ish, you're resorting to pretending that our pranks are your pranks.'

'That's it!' Frank shouted, voice above theirs. 'Why not just have a Prank-Off? Me, Alice and a few other people can be the judges and we'll tell you who we think the best pranksters are. But please, this conversation-'

'Argument-'

'Heated discussion-'

'-is taking up a lot more time than Alice and I anticipated.'

'A Prank-Off does sound like a good idea,' began Remus in a quiet voice. He was met with nods.

'Okay, after the holidays, we'll have a week each to come up with a prank and put it into motion. Me and Frank and two other judges will decide whose prank we think is the best.'

The Marauders and the twins shook hands.

'You better spend the next three weeks coming up with a good prank kids,' Fabian said with a malicious glint to his eye.

'Oh we will. Whilst I hope you spend the next three weeks as productively as we do, there's no point. Three weeks isn't nearly enough time for you to come up with a prank.'

'Shut up Black,' Gideon laughed and he ruffled the boy's hair before pulling his brother up and disappearing up the staircase to the dorms, no doubt to already start planning their next prank.

'Merry Christmas,' James screamed hysterically after them.

'You'll be fair, right?' Peter asked Alice and Frank in a small voice.

'Of course. I want you guys to win anyway. Fab and Gid have sort of gotten unbearable over the past few years. They challenge anyone, irrespective of gender or house or age even to a "Prank-Off" at least half a dozen times a year.'

'You're just the first people to actually take up the challenge. I don't think they were expecting that.' Frank told the boys. 'But anyway, me and Alice really must be off. I wish you all a great Christmas and New Year.'

'Same to you,' the Marauders said in unison. With a smile and a wave the two older students, like the twins, left the group of four to their own devices.

They sat in an amicable silence for a while. Remus pulled out the map once more and was drawing on it again. Peter was arranging his Chocolate Frog cards into categories whilst James and Sirius were engaged in a foot-war, each sitting on opposite ends of the sofa and facing one another with their feet up and pressed sole to sole.

'Would you guys prefer your presents today or would you like it after the holidays?' asked Peter quietly as he placed his Albus Dumbledore Chocolate Frog card besides the one of Merlin.

'Why can't you send it to us during the holidays?' asked James distractedly.

'He already told us why,' laughed Sirius, 'like five hundred times actually. He's going to Spain with his mother for the whole holiday.'

'Oh yeah! Well, whatever you'd prefer Peter.'

'By that,' interrupted Remus, 'he means now. I on the other hand, only want it now if it's chocolate.'

'Same.' Sirius and James said together, the latter significantly more eager.

They went up to their dormitory and from under his bed, Peter produced a bag with a few gifts in it - nicely wrapped chocolate bars, two for Sirius because it was his birthday tomorrow as well.

It was indeed the delightful Christmas Cream Honeydukes, filled with delicious cream and layered with scrumptious chocolate. The boys looked at Peter, thanked him profusely and promised to get his presents either sent to Spain to find him on Christmas or to give it to him when they next saw him.

'So, what are you are the both of you doing for Christmas,' James said five minutes later as they all littered various parts of the room. The impatient voice of James for example, with his chocolate bar open on his stomach, lay on his bed, facing Sirius and Remus. The other two boys sat on their own beds whilst Peter was sitting beside his trunk, packing for tomorrow because he had left it until last minute.

'I'm just going home. I'm going to enjoy the next three weeks with my parents. We'll have a spiffing Christmas.' He said very politely.

'Spiffing?' laughed James. 'I don't think I've heard anyone say that save my father's one hundred and forty year old uncle.'

They all laughed and Remus shrugged. 'I was just checking out the word and seeing if it was nice. I read it in this book I recently started, set in the-'

'Twelfth century?'

'The nineteenth actually.'

'Well that's lovely.' Sirius said. 'I hope you enjoy the spiffing book and also have a good holiday.'

'What are you doing for yours?' the other boy, blond hair sparkling in the candlelight and face twisted with cautiousness. He felt incredibly nervous and solicitous about asking Sirius such a question - like he didn't want to upset or trigger the boy into feeling sad. He was a curious child though, whether by nature and genes he did not know.

There was a long pause, filled only with the sounds of Peter attempting and failing to close his trunk, and of James swallowing his mouthfuls of chocolate.

'I'm ... staying at school ... for Christmas that is.'

'What?' James cried, the loudest of all. He jumped up and the chocolate slipped off his lap and slapped down on the ground. 'You can't be alone! It'll be your birthday. It'll be Christmas!'

Sirius shrugged indifferently, already coiled up in his bed under the sheets and with his favourite book open on his lap; pages dog-eared and crinkled. 'My parents are going on a holiday this Christmas to the Black Château in the South of France. I don't mind staying at Hogwarts for the holidays.'

'But it's Christmas,' echoed Peter in a weak voice.

James jumped up and marched over to the window, retrieving from the porcelain inkwell next to the candelabra a long, golden-feathered quill. He ripped off some parchment from a long scroll and scrawled a messy sentence on the sheet. There was tense silence whilst the other three waited to learn what James was doing.

He turned around the face the three and held out the roll of parchment. On it, in chicken scratch was the note;

_Mother, you'll have to prepare dinner for four on Christmas. My friend is coming with me. You'll love him, I'm sure._

'James-' began Sirius but he was interrupted by the bespectacled boy.

'No, you're coming with me. No one deserves to be alone on Christmas. And it would make me really happy. No one ever really comes to stay at my home.'

'T-thank you-'

'It's fine. If you snored like Peter however-'

'Hey!'

They laughed jovially together. 'I'm joking.' James said softly. 'Sirius, get packing.'

_xo_

It was bittersweet to bid one another goodbye when at last, the Hogwarts Express train rolled into the huge Kings Cross station. The four boys had entertained themselves with many matches of Exploding Snap, of some Wizarding Chess and an especially tense match of Gobstones.

They were stuffed to the brim with chocolate, sweets and some sandwiches from the trolley. It was a heaving task to find their trunks and pull them onto the platform which was swarming with students and family rushing to one another.

'I can see my mother. Merry Christmas!'

The boys turn to face a petite woman on the other side of the station, waving eagerly at her son and beckoning him over. She had short, cropped blonde hair and was a little frumpy but wearing a delightfully cheerful smile.

'Merry Christmas Peter-'

'Bye Pete-'

'Merry Christmas!'

The boy hurried off, struggling to pull the huge trunk behind him. It was heart-warming though to see his reunion with his mother, as he embraced her tightly and kissed her on the cheek.

'His mother is a small thing isn't she?' commented James as the mother and son bustled off, Peter talking animatedly. 'I reckon I'm taller than her.'

'I reckon anyone would be taller than her. Very small.' Sirius said matter-of-factly.

They shared more idle chatter whilst trying to inconspicuously look for their guardians. It was Remus who laughed first and said chidingly; 'I won. My mum and dad are over there.'

Sirius looked at the two people Remus was pointing at. His mother was also very small, maybe only just taller than them. She had long brown hair and wore a very pretty smile. Remus's father however was the exact image of his son; same golden brown hair, same large molten eyes and long legs but a much more rugged and large man.

'Do you want to come over and meet them?' asked Remus.

There was a soft nod from both James and Sirius. The boys walked over across the platform to the parents and were pleasantly surprised when they were greeted immediately with hugs from Remus's mother.

'You must be James,' she said to the messy-haired boy who nodded with a grin. 'And you are … Sirius.' He nodded and smiled politely. She had a lovely Welsh accent, dulled by the London influence.

Remus was still being tightly hugged by his father.

'Stop hogging my son,' said Remus's mother, slapping her husband on the shoulder. When he released Remus, blond hair tousled, she pulled him into her arms and started kissing his cheek and hair and forehead.

'Mum,' Remus laughed.

'I missed you.'

'Missed you too,' he breathed against her shoulder.

There was more idle chapter, mostly filled with their stories about the pranks they committed, cheeky jokes made about McGonagall's severe bun and Slughorn's toilet breath. They told Mr Lupin all about their acquaintance with the short cut to the kitchens from outside their common room and how they were gaining weight more and more quickly due to their knowledge.

When Mr and Mrs Lupin left with their son, who wished them a great holiday and promised to send them letters, the two boys finally noticed Mr and Mrs Potter standing in front of them and chatting quietly to one another.

'Mum!' cried James, waving his arms as he pulled Sirius over with him. James jumped forward to hug his mother and then his father. 'I missed you!'

'We missed you too darling,' said Mrs Potter, eyes wise and wide, same hazel colour as her son's and with the same black hair and regal cheekbones. She was a Black through and through. Her eyes swivelled on to Sirius's, boring into his own eyes of grey. 'And you are Sirius Black?'

'Yes ma'am.' Sirius said very quietly, voice ever so cultured and polite.

'My name is Dorea, dear.' She stared at Sirius carefully before murmuring under her breath, 'You are a very handsome boy. A splitting image of your mother.'

Sirius's cheeks glowed a dull pink.'Thank you.'

'You're welcome sweetheart. This is my husband Charlus.'

'Good afternoon Sirius,' the older man said. His eyes were a bright, crystal blue and his hair was brown. He wore glasses and was both tall and well-built. 'It's nice to finally meet you.'

'Finally?'

'James has not stopped speaking about his dorm mates in his letters. He thinks you all hung the moon.'

'Mum,' protested James, cheeks a pale blossom hue. 'Can we hurry home already? I want to show Sirius my Quidditch collection and the lake and my room and-'

'Okay darling,' she chuckled fondly. 'Hold on tight-' and the parents gently took the hands of the pureblood children; ones who knew to brace themselves for Apparation. But nonetheless, thought Sirius as he gasped when the Apparation was over, he would never get used to it.

_xo_

Christmas was glorious. James managed to show Sirius everything he thought was worthwhile on the first night and even more.

Examples of this "more" include the forest near the house and some of the secret rooms in the very large manor that James wasn't supposed to know about.

Sirius was going to be sharing James's room but had been shown to his own guest room to keep his stuff and sleep in if James annoyed him too much.

On Christmas Eve Dorea Potter made a feast that she called "a warm-up" for the next day. She was as exquisite in the kitchen as she was to be around. Her kindness was boundless and infinite; very patient with the two young and inherently mischievous boys.

It was the next morning when Sirius received a letter from his family and a bag of galleons. The letter read:

_Merry Christmas and happy birthday for last week. Make sure this money lasts you for the next month._

Abrupt, short and to the point. Without a shred of emotion or love. Sirius checked the tag on the bag of galleons, reading three hundred galleons on it.

'What did you get?' James asked excitedly, sitting on his large throne-like bed and burying his hands into the mound of presents at the foot of his bed.

'From my parents I got money-'

'Cool,' said James but Sirius really thought it _wasn't_.

'From my uncle I got a book, some chocolate and money-'

'Your family love giving you money,' laughed the other boy.

'Yeah. My cousins have also got me some stuff by I won't open that for a while. I need to brace myself.'

'Open Remus's present. His one is the biggest I have.' James commented, ripping open the wrapping paper with flying broomsticks on the front. There was a very pretty antique case beneath the paper and inside the case was a Quaffle. In the card it said amongst the wishes of a good Christmas and New Year, an acknowledgement of James's lack of Quaffles.

'He's a star,' said James. 'This is exactly what I wanted.'

'A star?' asked Sirius with a quirk of his eyebrow. 'Firstly, the only people who call other people "a star" are middle-aged women, usually in the teaching profession. Second, I'm the star. Remus is a wolf, get it right.'

'A wolf?'

'You've heard the story of Remus and Romulus right? Both raised by a werewolf, Remus died and Romulus survived, founding Rome...'

James shook his head.

'You need to read more.'

'No, I need to practice for Quidditch more. I'm joining the team as soon as I can next year.'

'Do you think you're good enough?' Sirius asked softy as he opened the present from Remus. His hands froze however when he learnt what it was that Remus got him.

Mapped out on a thin sheet of glass was the night sky, with pretty stones encrusted in its surface, acting as stars. The blond, quiet boy wrote in the note attached that "the materials didn't cost much", that he "made it himself" and hoped Sirius had a "great birthday and enjoyed the rest of the holiday to come". Regardless of the price, Sirius thought it was his favourite present. Even more than James's present which was a Zonko's Pouch of Pranks. But an hour later, when James's cries from the bathroom echoed throughout the house as he was assaulted by flying dungbombs, Sirius thought the Pouch of Pranks was pretty awesome too.

_xo_

Christmas at the Lupin residence was a very cheerful affair, mostly spent in the comfort of warm fireplace-lit rooms and with hot chocolates and waffles.

Presents were opened slowly and with much laughter, hugging and kissing. For example when Hope saw the beautiful necklace given to her by her husband, unfortunately for Remus, she kissed Lyall for a minute straight. There were numerous presents from his parents; scarves, gloves, books and chocolate - everything he wanted.

When Remus got to James and Sirius's presents, he was pleasantly surprised to see that they had combined their money to get him an assortment of gifts including Honeydukes, Zonko pranks and a very pretty platinum inkwell for his quills.

'My,' said Hope softly, tracing the engravings on the inkwell. 'You have splendid friends.'

'I do.'

'Sirius Black and James Potter, I assume-'

'They're very rich mother. Though that doesn't mean I like getting expensive presents from them.'

'Of course not,' said Lyall, 'and we never expected you to like it. But maybe that's what they're used to.'

Remus was silent for a moment as he too inspected the inkwell. 'I just don't want them to expect expensive gifts from me.'

'I'm sure they don't. I'm sure they don't mind whatever you get them because it's from you' His father ran a hand through his hair; callous hands which Remus would recognise anywhere, hands which massaged him after a bad moon and ran through his hair and held him when he was sad. He loved his father.

_Loved him so much._

'Merry Christmas father,' he said softly as he ripped open some of the chocolate he got and stuffed it into his mouth. 'The full moon falls on the eve of New Year's eve-'

'Bet you had fun saying that,' whispered Hope, trying to lift the mood in the already-melancholic room.

'I was just wondering-'

'-if we're going to spend every moment of it with you? What else would we be doing?'

'Eating all of the chocolate my friends gave me?'

Lyall started to tickle his son and shouted at his wife; 'Grab the chocolate and run!'

'No!' squealed Remus, his peals of laughter warming the hearts of his parents and reminding him that Christmas meant more than expensive presents and chocolate. It meant being with the people who made him most happy and the people he loved. So what if the full moon would ruin his New Year? His life was a lot better than it could be despite his lycanthropy and despite the poverty his family was sometimes riddled by.

His parents loved him. His family wanted him.

That was more than rich, regal Sirius Black could ever say.

_xo_

Sirius wore the new dress robes he was given by Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella; gorgeous long sheets of soft grey cotton and decorated with black silk. Him and James were being taken out by Mr and Mrs Potter for New Years. They were extremely excited which was especially unusual considering that both boys had had the best two weeks of their lives so far.

They could perform magic without fear of consequence because the Ministry couldn't detect underage magic in a pureblood home. There was something new about the manor to discover everyday for Sirius and most importantly, Mrs Potter cooked the best food that his mouth had ever met.

There was a knock on the door of the room Sirius was changing in. 'Come in,' he said, looking once more in the mirror and straightening the black, silk collar of his robes. It was James, wearing a lovely bright set of red robes with gold lining and a lion brooch pinned to his breast pocket.

'You're a proper Gryffindor,' Sirius commented.

'I know. Whilst we were away at Hogwarts, mother was redesigning my whole wardrobe. I have an assortment of robes, dress robes and Muggle clothes that I never had before.'

'Spiffing?'

'Remus will never make the word current. It sounds ghastly-'

'James, you just said ghastly. I'm pretty sure that word is as outdated as "spiffing".'

The bespectacled boy stuck out his tongue and ran a hand through his already drastically dishevelled hair. 'Mother and father are ready. We're all just waiting for you to emerge-'

'I'm done now.'

'Your robes are very nice.' James commented, more to say something because Sirius's uncharacteristic silence set him on edge. He did think they were nice though, if not a little intimidating.

'Thank you. They're the ones my uncle and aunt sent me, remember?'

'Ah, you're both ready?' asked Charlus, emerging from the dining hall with his wife as the two boys descended the stairs.

'Yes.' James said simply.

'You both look very charming.' Dorea said softly, in her own dress robes of a soft Alice blue whilst her hair was held up with sparkling (literally, they were charmed to sparkle) forget-me-nots.

'Come on darling, boys, we should hurry. We can't be too late.'

'What exactly is it that we're going to?' asked James. 'I know it's a charity event but are there going to be other kids there?'

'The Longbottoms will definitely be there, the Fenwicks and Prewetts are coming and quite a few others. I think Augusta Longbottom said the Blacks and Malfoys might attend but-'

'I can't go.' Sirius shouted as soon as he heard "Blacks and Malfoys", not meaning to be disrespectful but desperate to get his point across. 'I can't go at all.'

'Sirius?'

'No! I can't go! You said my parents are going to be there? I can't go-'

Charlus Potter opened his mouth but closed it when James grabbed his friend by his arm and dragged him down the long corridor and into one of the guest bedrooms.

'Sirius?'

He was almost hysterical, clutching at his hair and shaking his head vigorously. 'I don't want my parents to see me, they can't see me James-'

'Why?'

'Because they don't know I'm with you! They won't be happy that I'm with you when they ordered me to stay at school-'

'I thought you said that you chose to stay at Hogwarts because your parents were on holiday...'

An awkward silence stretched, wherein one of the young boys realised that his friend had lied to him to cover up an ugly truth and the other boy resigned to the fact that his friend now knew he lied.

'I lied James.'

'Why?'

Sirius bit his lip as he sat on the edge of the bed. 'My parents are still angry that I'm in Gryffindor. They don't want me coming home for the remainder of the school year. Until they can stand the thought of me without being consumed with a burning fury, my mother said.'

'I'm sorry Sirius.' James said very softly. 'I'm sorry that you felt like you had to lie. I'm sorry that your parents are still angry and I'm sorry that this New Year's hasn't been very good.'

'You have nothing to apologise for James.' The other boy said, wiping his suddenly-snivelly nose with the sleeve of his silk and cotton dress robe. There was a knock on the door.

'Boys? Can I come in?'

James turned to his friend and at his nod, affirmed his mother's entrance. She was careful to look at Sirius with only a caring, kind smile on her face. 'Darling, Chuck Apparated over there to see if any of your family were there and it seems that they're not. However, if you'd prefer not to go, which is completely fine, we can stay here and have a great meal and let off the dozens of fireworks we bought for the event.'

Sirius paused for a moment. 'I'm sorry for lying ma'am.'

'Stop with this ma'am nonsense, sweetheart. And it was barely a lie darling. Charlus and I just want you to be happy and to enjoy your holiday-'

'I have been enjoying it, so much.'

'Then our mission has been accomplished.' Sirius's stomach lurched when she looked into his eyes with ones identical to her son's. She smiled softly, a simple quirk of her mouth. 'Charlus and I will be in the main living room dear, so come down when you're ready-'

'It's fine ma-Dorea,' he corrected himself, flicking black hair out of his eyes. 'I'll come.'

'You don't have to,' protested James. 'We can play some Quidditch and you can use my other broom.'

With a smile and a shake of his head, Sirius straightened his robes and looked into the mirror one last time. His hair was tousled now and a simple brush through his hair with a comb restored it to its natural neatness. His smile didn't quite touch his eyes, his lip was quivering a bit too much and his cheeks were tinged with fear and exertion. But irrespective of his nerves, he was excited and confident for the night to commence. For the year to start the way he wanted it to start; surrounded by friends, love and laughter.

He linked arms with Dorea Potter, squeezed his eyes shut tight, sucked in a heaving breath of air as his body was ripped apart for the Disapparation. When the three Potters and the Black arrived in the lawn of the Fenwick estate, they were met with the overwhelmingly devouring scent of freshly cooked food.

There were fireworks already sizzling in the air, fairies fluttering around, trays of drinks flying through the throng of people to anyone who whistled for it. In the corner, Sirius could see the Twins whispering to each other surreptitiously, sending furtive glances to anyone who walked by them. Frank Longbottom was with his girlfriend by the table of alcoholic beverages and he could spot a few people from Gryffindor in the upper years too.

Not once did he spot a single friend of his parents, a member of his family and as it got closer and closer to midnight, his smile grew wider and his laughter more honest.

When the fantastic display of fireworks went off ten minutes early because of stupid twins, parents were too drunk to care, children too excited to be bothered and Sirius and James too giddy to really blame Fabian and Gideon for their impatience.

The display was mesmerising; dragons flying in the sky, phoenixes swooping overhead, and in general just a great way to start the New Year.

_A great way indeed._

* * *

><p><em>Please review?<em>


	6. Part One: V

I have finished first year with this chapter, finally! I'm getting more excited the further along the story gets. Second year also seems really fun to write; lots of full moon conspiracies to be hatched and Animagus-planning to commence.

Thanks for reading :)

* * *

><p><em>Part One<br>_V

Mr and Mrs Orion Black never did learn of Sirius's little Christmas escapade. He sent them a letter during the holidays explaining all the wonderful decorations in Hogwarts that he and James sat up inventing with hot chocolates warming their laps. Contributing to this lie was Sirius's next letter to Regulus, deciding that he did want to reach out to his brother. The letter described the magnificent fireworks on the night of the New Year: flying dragons, soaring phoenixes, leaping lions, slithering snakes, bouncing badgers, elegant eagles-

Sirius took a breath as he sat in one of their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons of the New Year term. He liked writing crazy stories in his head, perhaps explaining the brilliant idea they had for the Prank-Off against the Troublesome Twins (a term invented by the Marauders to distinguish themselves with the lesser pranksters). They were _much better_ pranksters, he thought dismissively.

Sirius took a deep breath. He was just so excited, he couldn't focus on the droning voice of their teacher. He felt something hit his cheek. Sirius looked down on his wooden desk, a gorgeous inkwell belonging to his father on one side and a quill with a long, ostentatious feather on the other.

Between the two objects lay a ball of scrunched up paper. He inspected the missile and looked across the room. James, who sat on the other side of the room, was grinning at him lopsidedly.

Sirius opened the piece of paper and saw a drawing of their DADA teacher, eyes twinkling and moustache doing a ridiculous quiver every second or two, like it had a twitch.

Laughing and then ducking his head when Professor Padraic Pugfastious (a respectable name they were told) looked around, Sirius pulled out a fresh roll of parchment. Within a few minutes of drawing and loosely animating the sketch, he rolled the parchment into a ball and threw it back at James. His aim was just as precise as James's, who caught it brilliantly and mock-cheered.

'Could you _stop_ it?' hissed a voice from behind Sirius. He rolled his eyes at Lily Evans' prissy demands and chuckled when James laughed at his sketch of Pugfastious turning into a pug.

'Great picture Sirius-' he called out.

'Let me see?' Remus hissed to James from besides Sirius.

The hazel eyed pureblood whispered a loud 'Okay!' and threw the parchment back their way. It went a little off-course but Sirius leapt out of his seat and caught the parchment.

'And he catches the Golden Snitch-' James howled before Pugfastious jumped around and caught Sirius still half-way out of his seat.

'Mr Black!' cried Pugfastious. 'What is the Second Postulate of the History of Defence Magic?'

Sirius slyly put the paper down and hummed aloud for a moment, pretending to think hard. 'I'm sure it's that all defence magic with the intent to protect and defend is thereby justified, even if it shall harm another who ... may arouse the need for protection.'

A pin, Sirius was sure, dropped some way across the room, as it was so quiet. Pugfastious laughed low in his throat at first before his laughing grew into full-blown rumbles, shattering through the silence of the large DADA room.

'You are correct, Mr Black. But be that as it may however, please refrain in the future from leaping out of your chair to capture my attention. Whilst I am sure my opinion is of course of the utmost importance in this room and school, be sure to reign in your eagerness.' He waved his hand and a new green coloured piece of chalk flew into his open, patient palm. 'The Third Postulate-' the Professor began in that tedious, monotonous voice, 'is on the topic on...'

Sirius handed the ball of paper to Remus and Peter, who started to chuckle in very excited, giddy voices. 'This is brilliant-' said Peter whilst Remus replied with a cheeky 'Very accurate'.

Another ball of scrunched up parchment landed on Remus's table this time. Whilst Remus was scrawling on the back of it, Sirius looked over to where James sat. He had been moved sometime before Halloween because Pugfastious could not stand having Sirius and James beside one another for an extended period of time. They were the worst troublemakers, to put it lightly, in the face of teachers that they did _not_ like or respect.

Pugfastious was a very unusual man; under the illusion that he was always right, that he was coveted by the teachers and students alike despite his pug-like face and attitude. Furthermore, what was most aggravating about this man was that he could not teach. Whether because he did not know how to teach or whether it was simply because he was heinously boring and sent his classes to sleep, Sirius had no clue. He just knew that to pass the DADA exam at the end of the year would require little work on his behalf - what they had done thus far was almost insultingly easy.

'Stop that right now!' protested Evans, eyes boring into those of Sirius's. 'Or else I'll tell Professor Pugfastious.'

Eyes still on Evans, Sirius's arm made an arc as he lobbed the ball of parchment at James but Evans was too quick; she leapt out of her seat and grabbed the missile.

Her eyes were furious as she sat back in her seat but then she scanned the picture and her lips quirked upwards, almost into a smile, before she shook her head angrily. 'This is ridiculous-'

'Oh shut up Evans,' responded Sirius. 'Like we can't see you smiling-'

'Only because it's slightly funny-'

'Slightly? Don't you mean extremely?'

'Shhhh!' one of the Slytherins who sat behind Evans hissed. 'Shut up, both of you.'

Just as James was about to retort (shout across the room) the bell went and cut off his response which would have been something like 'Hag' or 'Banshee' but alas, the lesson was over. This also meant that the school day was over.

Which also meant-

'The Prank-Off is tonight.' Peter said with an eager grin.

'Well, the Troublesome Twins are going first. It is our turn next week. But yes, today we can sit by and watch their piteous attempt at winning,' said Remus as he pulled out an apple from his bag and bit into it.

'Twins, did I hear?' an older, pubescent voice interrupted.

Identical to it was the second voice, answering with a 'Yes, they said twins. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but did they say _Troublesome Twins_?'

'An _outrageous_ nickname, whoever that may apply to-'

Simultaneously, the four boys turned to face Fabian and Gideon Prewett.

'Merlin,' began James. 'You guys are uglier the closer I am to you.'

'Interesting,' said Fabian. 'You're smaller the closer I am to you. How deceiving proximity-'

'Or lack of-' his brother interrupted.

'Can be,' finished Fabian.

'You are Fabian right? I'm trying to remember who is who.' Remus asked innocently, in a voice that was very out of its setting; too polite and cordial.

'Yes, sweet Remus. I am Fabian.'

'Anyway,' said Sirius, drawing their attention back to himself, his alluring, mischievous smile and twinkling grey eyes. 'How is the prank preparation going? It must be so disheartening to prepare a prank that you know will only come second.'

Gideon roared with laughter whilst his more-irrational twin brother started cracking his knuckles threateningly. 'It's actually pretty fun. The prank will be no less than entertaining, I'm sure.'

As if sent from heaven, Frank Longbottom and his girlfriend Alice came over, holding hands and smiling at the group who were stood a few feet before the Fat Lady portrait.

'Hello guys. How is the prank going?' Frank looked at the Marauders whilst he said this but was quickly told that the Troublesome Twins were the ones going first.

'Going alright. You're in for a brilliant dinner, might I just say.' Fabian said confidently. Then he grabbed his brother by the sleeve and shouted a quick; 'Catch you guys later-' before he whisked him back the way they just came. Frank and Alice led the boys into the common room, thanking the Fat Lady and sitting in the assortment of soft armchairs and plump sofas.

'What d'you think they're planning?' James asked Longbottom, kicking his shoes off and curling up on one side of the sofa.

'I know it'll be brilliant. Most of the Twins' pranks over the past few years have been spontaneous and usually accidental. I don't think they've ever launched a prank where they've spent so much time planning and worrying over it. As for what they're planning, I have no idea-'

'I heard them talking about it in class earlier this week.' Alice laughed, mischievous grin on her face. 'They're really funny.'

'What was it they said?' her boyfriend asked.

'You'll find out later.'

'But I want to know now-' Frank dropped his head to her shoulder and started kissing her neck, causing Alice to close her eyes and hum quietly as she leant in to her boyfriend's touch.

'I have a question-' said one of the young Gryffindors, voice serious as his name. The other three first year Gryffindors sighed. They recognised the tone Sirius adopted; it was one he used whenever he was about to ask a controversial and insensitive question. Hopefully it would be neither, but knowing Sirius, they knew that it would probably offend Frank and Alice, or surprise them.

'Ask away...' there was some hesitation in Frank's voice but it was mostly light-hearted.

'What's it like kissing someone? I mean I've seen you guys kiss and it just seems like you're sucking on one another's lips and exchanging saliva-'

Alice's black hair shook as she roared with laughter, clapping her hands together. 'It might look like that but it's a lot nicer than you've made it sound.'

'I agree with Sirius actually,' chirped James, shuffling forward in his seat so he was shoulder to shoulder with his best pal. 'Kissing doesn't seem and appear half as appealing as people make it out to be. I mean the other day, I saw a girl licking her boyfriend's lip. Like a dog. What pleasure is there in that?'

'You guys are just children. I doubt that I can explain the intricacies of kissing to the both of you. You haven't even hit puberty yet.' Alice didn't sound like she was making fun of them, merely stating the obvious. Peter's lip began to quiver and Frank quickly jumped in.

'Don't worry though boys. I started changing around second year whereas some of my friends started a few months before me at the end of first. You'll only be boys for a little longer.'

'And then we'll be men?'

'Yes. And then you'll become men. You'll find kissing arousing and you'll be taller, with deeper voices and bigger co-'

'-muscles-' Alice quickly screamed over her boyfriend, delivering a swift punch to his arm.

Her boyfriend chuckled under his breath and nodded. 'Yes, muscles. That's what I meant.'

'Right.' Sirius said with a nod. 'That's what you meant.' Strangely enough though, he didn't believe Longbottom.

_xo_

The prank delivered by the Troublesome Twins really was magnificent. It was a normal Great Hall dinner; almost all students in attendance whilst some of the crazier fifth and seventh years who had already begun revising for exams, opted to stay in their dorms. The food was exquisite as usual and the atmosphere around the huge hall was light.

Then, out of nowhere, all of the candles in the hall extinguished. There were screams and shouts from all over. Those who knew of the Prank-Off recognised the incident as part of the prank, but most of the hall were oblivious and therefore (rightfully so too) panicked.

The lights flickered back on and at the staff table, Remus could see Professor Dumbledore standing up was his wand out. Then they could hear full blown screaming-

'Professor!'

'Professor Dumbledore-'

'-our food-'

'It's all gone!'

Children from the Hufflepuff table were screaming. And upon casting his eyes for barely a second on the table, Remus indeed saw that all of the food had disappeared from their table.

Dumbledore jumped up from his seat and looked around the hall. It felt like his eyes were boring into those of every single student in the hall, an impossible and irrational suspicion but one Remus harboured nonetheless. 'Gemini-' said Dumbledore and the bowls, platters and plates of food on the table beside the Hufflepuff one (Gryffindor) replicated and alligned themselves neatly on the empty Hufflepuff table.

There was loud muttering and chatter in the unsettled hall for a few minutes before the lights went out again. When Dumbledore restored the light again, this time wearing an expression that was a little annoyed, it was the food from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw table that had disappeared. Students were chuckling softly under their breaths, already having attributed the weird situation to the Troublesome Twins. Dumbledore did not even bother casting charms; instead he just waved a hand and food filled the two empty tables. Before he even managed to make his way back to his seat, the lights went out for a third time. When the lights came on, all of the food in the hall was gone, including the food from the staff table.

And smeared on the tables, in glowing paint, were the words 'Courtesy of Fab and Gid'.

'FABIAN AND GIDEON PREWETT?' exploded McGonagall. 'HOW DARE YOU-'

Severe bunned McGonagall was cut off when the lights extinguished again and fireworks started going off; a magnificent festival of lights and sparks. Students cheered when sweets rained down on them and professors laughed at the daring of the Twins who were already resigned to the fact that they were probably going to be in detention for the next month or two.

When dinner was cancelled and students left for their dorms with pockets full of sweets and still some decent food in them from pre-prank-commencement, it was a cheerful night. Sirius still lay in bed, his friends around him, with arrogant words dancing on his tongue; of how they were "definitely" going to win, how there was no "climax" to the prank and how...

Well how they were just inherently _so much better._

'That was a good prank though,' said James as he continued feasting on the sweets he had managed to salvage from the firework display an hour later. 'Very exciting.'

'Excitingly boring. I was just wondering when it would end.' Sirius said with a shake of his wet, curly head, a towel draped around his waist as he walked from the bathroom to his bed. He was very mature and barely even cared when the other boys could not help but curiously watch his naked body and compare it to theirs as he dropped his towel.

James, Peter and Remus watched beads of water drip down from black curly hair onto his pale back, roll over pert bum cheeks, down thin, long thighs, across the length of his calf before the water had depreciated too much to tell apart from the trail it left. He pulled on clothes and then sat on his bed and faced the other boys, all nervously smiling at him and hoping he hadn't noticed them watching him.

Sirius began brushing his hair, curls growing looser and looser as more and more _Sleakeazy's Straightening Hair Potion_ was applied. Soon, his hair was dry and straight and he looked more like the usual Sirius.

The boys stayed up a few hours longer, until it was eleven o'clock and they had to sleep if they wanted to wake up on the right side of bed. They played Wizarding Chess and Exploding Snap whilst they feasted on the sweets they had left.

Then the Marauders fell asleep and it was a peaceful night ... f_or most of them._

_xo_

Remus woke up suddenly in the dead of the night. The room was shudderingly cold and he hummed whilst he clenched the sheets around his frail, shivering body. He looked over to the bed beside his and noticed that the curtains were wide apart and the sheets rumpled.

Sirius was not in them.

He frowned and wondering if the boy had woken up for one of his nighttime escapades, of which Remus had noticed a few times now over the course of the academic year.

Often, the enigma that was Sirius Black did something that left Remus confused and frowning. He did not know what to make of Sirius, but he could see how unhappy the boy sometimes was.

He sat up and looked around the room. Sitting by the window between Sirius and James's beds was the silver-eyed boy himself. He was staring out at a starry sky and a waxing gibbous moon, its silver light illuminating the clouds.

He had his wand and was simply conjuring bubbles from thin air, popping them with his finger.

Remus got out of bed and slipped on a robe to warm himself up. His blond hair blew in his face when he neared the open window and sat beside Sirius.

'Hey Remus.'

'Can't sleep?' the blond boy said, popping one of the conjured bubbles and nudging Sirius with his shoulder, shy but curious.

'Not really, no.'

Remus bit his lip but resolutely ahead. 'What are you thinking about?'

Sirius clasped his hands tight and bowed his head. 'How so much has changed.'

'In what way?'

He was quiet for a long time, at least five minutes if not ten, simply conjuring bubbles and popping them.

Then in a soft voice, Sirius began to speak. 'A year ago, I would never have been friends with someone who has a Mudblood for a mother or a Muggle as a father ... A year ago, I never would have allowed myself to get into Gryffindor. Now ... now I'm best friends with two half-bloods and a blood traitor, I'm having fun in Gryffindor and-' he broke off with a smile. 'I'm not coming top in the class for every subject.'

'Only every other subject,' murmured Remus in response, voice light-hearted.

'Sorry for saying Mudblood by the way. It's hard to kick all the habits I've got.'

'That's okay. I just hope you're okay, especially when you go home for the first time this year. I know-'

'You know what?'

Remus's cheeks reddened and he shook his head as it dropped down. 'I heard you, all those months ago when I first gave you that bit of chocolate...'

'Yes...'

'You had received a letter from home and you were … upset-'

Sirius looked up very quickly and shook his head, but then stopped quickly and simply stared. 'I wasn't feeling very well.'

'Okay,' the blond boy said, his voice ever so patient.

'I was … have you told …'

'I had no reason to.' Remus said very patiently.

'You confuse me Remus,' Sirius said softly. 'Maybe it's because you're not a pureblood, not rich, not from such a controlling family.'

'You confuse me too Sirius.' The other boy said, voice ever so patient and kind.

'I think I'm going to stay up for a bit longer,' murmured Sirius, staring up at the sky resolutely whilst he conjured more and more bubbles.

'Do you want company?'

'Okay.'

Remus nudged him again and replied, cheeky grin in place, with an 'Okay' too.

_xo_

When it was time for the Marauders' prank, they were jittery. It too was going to take place in the hall, like Fabian and Gideon's prank, only it was going to be so much more climactic and epic . They had spent since the first day of term preparing the prank because of course they did understand that the Troublesome Twins had a huge advantage; that they knew more magic.

In addition to this, Sirius and James had bribed students in the upper years to help them perform spells. They also sneaked regularly into the Restricted Section of the library to get potion books and create (very carefully and therefore without Remus and Peter's aid) the potions that would make up the prank.

When the food appeared on the tables, after Dumbledore made a quick announcement about how the Hogsmeade Weekend was being postponed for the next fortnight, the boys exchanged excited glances.

The four boys looked around as people tucked into their food, conversations blooming and plates bulging with delicious dishes of a wide variety.

Then it began. Slytherins were of course the first to start screaming about it. Members of their house began to turn into snakes; giant, thick, slithering ones and thin, skinny and slimy ones. There was an enormous diversity in the colours of the snakes; some a blinding yellow whereas others were as dark as midnight.

Then the Ravenclaws beside the Slytherins started to turn into eagles, swooping into the air and flying around. Most of the hall was laughing now, obviously clocking on to the fact that it was a prank. Gryffindors then turned into lion cubs, save the four Marauders who had not eaten yet. Finally, the badgers were all that was left. They began to chase each other across the hall, a little too excited and eager.

The professors themselves did not turn into anything, as the Marauders wanted them to know they had been the ones to throw the prank - they were sick of the Twins pretending Marauder pranks were theirs. In addition to this, the four first years did fear the trouble they could get in for transforming their professors.

All of the staff were laughing though, clearly entertained at the students they taught turning into the animals of their houses.

McGonagall looked very proud of the beautiful, regal lions and lionesses prowling through the hall and pawing at some of the food on the tables. The eagles were smart; swooping down when the lions weren't looking to steal some chicken or bread.

'I'm guessing you four are responsible?'

'Do you without a doubt know it's us?' retorted James, wide grin on his face.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. 'Yes.'

'Then yes,' said Sirius, 'it was us.'

'Only, without any proof, you can't prove it was us.' Remus said in that level-headed voice of his.

'What about the fact that you four are the only students not to have transformed?'

'Perhaps we aren't very hungry and didn't tuck in straight away like everyone else.' Remus replied, small smile on his face.

'I do sort of want to experience what it's like to be a lion though,' said James.

'How did you manage to convince the house-elves?' asked Dumbledore, descending the steps of the platform on which the staff table was on at the front of the hall.

Peter chuckled and said, 'It was Sirius's idea.'

'We went down and said that the potions would enhance the taste, and we gave them one for each table. They were eager to please as ever and loved the idea of enhancing the taste of their already spectacular food.'

'Very smart prank,' Dumbledore said with a smile. He went over to the Gryffindor table and picked up a small muffin, nibbling it. On the spot, he turned into an enormous alpha-male lion, much larger than even the seventh year male lions roaming the hall. Dumbledore roared and with chuckles, the four first years rushed over to stuff food into their mouths and turn into lions too.

It was a brilliant prank and they didn't even get in trouble. McGonagall said it was too good a display of magic and Dumbledore said it was far too entertaining to punish.

Alice, Frank and the two other judges (Benjy Fenwick, a best friend of Alice's and Emmeline Vance who was Frank's fellow complimentary prefect and a good friend of his) awarded the status of _Best Pranksters in Hogwarts_ to the four first years.

What was best, perhaps, was that Fabian and Gideon did not disagree with the decision and congratulated (the latter more reluctant) the four boys.

'Though I am loath to admit it,' began Fabian in a nasally voice, 'your prank was marginally superior.'

'By that he means well done. You really pulled it out of the bag. I've never had so much fun being transformed into something.'

'Thank you.' Remus said as the other three members of his group were too smug to open their mouths.

'Maybe we should have another Prank-Off next year? Me and Gid can show you how pranks are really done. I think we were too tame this year.'

Sirius nodded eagerly. 'Of course. We'd love to take you out of retirement and remind you how pranks are really conducted.'

'Watch it,' laughed Gideon. With a nod, he and his brother left Dormitory Two of the Gryffindor House for first year boys.

'I'm so glad we won,' said James as he fell back on his bed. 'I really was worried for a little while. I mean they know so much more magic than us and they've certainly had a longer career. Don't you agree?'

'I don't,' said Sirius dismissively. 'I knew we would win. They lack something we have?'

'What?'

'Creativity. Their fireworks were really fun but food disappearing? Really? That's not exciting or remotely mischievous.'

'Besides,' said Peter quietly, voice shaky and lacking the confidence it desperately needed for him to ever be taken seriously. 'Erm … well … we deserved to win.'

'Yes Peter. We did deserve to win.'

'Only because we're better.'

'God Sirius, your arrogance smothers me sometimes.' James laughed.

The other pureblood boy stuck his tongue out and leant back against the soft cushions of his bed.

_xo_

The rest of the school year was very rushed. Easter was a fantastic holiday, it gave them a nice few weeks to spend solely relaxing before they went back to school for the last term and started revising hard for the May exams.

Sirius, ordered to stay at school again for Easter, went with James to the Potter Manor, where he steadily felt more comfortable and even had his own room. He also knew his way around the enormous house and grounds surrounding it so well that he was surprised he had only been friends with James half a year. It felt much longer.

As for Remus, he was yet to receive any suspecting questions from his friends about his recurring monthly disappearances; always off to visit his sick mother or go home because of a funeral he had to attend. Whether his friends were swallowing the lies or not was often a thought that kept Remus up at night, but as the months slipped by, Remus loosened up more and more. He even went over for a weekend to James's house with Peter as well.

It was the first Marauder sleepover and one that they were sure James's parents wouldn't forget any time soon.

On an outing with Mr and Mrs Potter, the last full day that Remus would spend at the Potters and the second last for Peter, the group went to Diagon Alley to have a lovely lunch and go shopping. It was whilst they were walking that Mr and Mrs Potter froze. James, prepared as usual, whipped out his Invisibility Cloak and draped it over Sirius as quick as he could.

The pause gave Remus time to analyse Sirius's family; the Blacks, the ones who triggered such a response from James and his parents. They were like nothing Remus had ever really seen before; closer to _royalty_ than anything. Mrs Black was almost a twin of her son with the same naturally curly thick locks of black hair, piercing silver eyes and high cheekbones. However, unlike her son, she did not carry the same charismatic, cheerful smile. Instead, her mouth was tight and her eyes furiously unsettled.

Beside her was a small boy who could only be the brother. Regulus, was it? _The twentieth brightest star?_ Mr Black looked a lot like Sirius's too with a regal jaw and a perfectly straight nose. There were two house elves also accompanying the family with several bags levitating around them.

'Haughty,' they heard Sirius's mother shout at one of the elves. 'Hurry along and bring me some water.' The elf Disapparated, bags still hovering around where it had been before it reappeared in the same spot with a bottle of water and glasses levitating in the air. Mrs Walburga Black clicked her fingers impatiently for a glass of water and snatched it when the elf levitated it to her open hand. 'Learn to be quicker, elf.'

'Yes mistress.'

'Mother, why didn't Sirius come home this holiday? I miss him.' They heard the young boy saying. Sirius hardly recognised him, as he had grown so much. Regulus was at least two or three inches taller. But then Sirius could hardly even recognise himself; he was so much taller, muscles denser, body larger in general.

'For the millionth time Regulus, it is better if he stays at school.'

'Well, I hope he likes the present I send him. I feel bad for not having sent him many nice letters over the year.'

'Does he deserve it?'

Only Sirius could hear the conversation now because whilst the Potters, Remus and Peter had paused, not wanting to attract the Blacks' attention, he had followed them.

'I'd like to think so. He must miss us terribly, mother.'

'Well of course he misses us. As he should. It is little punishment for the disgraceful way he behaved at the start of his academic year. And the boy should remember that his cousins attend Hogwarts; I know about his ridiculous shenanigans and antics involving the half bloods and the blood traitor Potter in his year.'

Regulus was very quietly, nodding dejectedly. 'Yes mother.'

'But you won't be like that when you attend, will you? You have one more year to prepare and then you'll be in Slytherin, taking on the responsibilities your foolish brother should have adopted.'

'Nevermind what house he is in, Walburga,' snapped Orion. 'What matters most is shaping him into being the powerful heir that we know him to be. His house will hopefully have no impact on that. Now hurry, I want to make it to Gringotts before rush hour.'

'Yes, Orion.' Walburga droned, waving her hand and ushering the elves into action.

'Yes father.' The youngest son said, a second too late. The family of three bustled off and Sirius did not have the heart to follow them and eavesdrop. He simply watched on and when they were too far to see or recognise him, he turned to his friends and Mr and Mrs Potter, pulling the cloak off.

'That's your family,' whispered Peter, clearly still awestruck at how imposing and majestic the Blacks were. Dressed in their sublime silks and regal robes, Peter and Remus felt like they had been in the presence of royalty.

'That's my family,' Sirius replied quietly. He cocked his head at the Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop and said softly, 'Are we going in here or what?'

'Only if we go to Broomstix after?'

Sirius smiled and nodded. 'I just want to buy some more dungbombs. Snivellus is growing more and more insufferable, isn't he?'

'Definitely,' guffawed Peter.

'Well, if we're buying prank tools, we may as well get the Supreme Box for Pranksters.' James said, face still a little tense from the confrontation with Sirius's family.

'I heard there's a new box of pranks that's been introduced...' began Sirius, eager to change the subject. They spent the rest of the day avoiding the topic of Blacks and purebloods and in turn, Sirius's attitude got better and better as the day progressed but behind closed eyes, he saw his mother's sneer, his father's scowl and the sinking sensation in his stomach did not fade.

_xo_

First year exams were easy, Remus concluded. Apart from potions, he excelled in all his other exams. In potions he barely managed to scrape a pass but that was okay; Remus knew he couldn't be good at everything. Sirius Black on the other hand passed each exam with incredible results, only getting lower than Remus in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms. James did very well too, getting an award in Broomstick lessons, winning the Marauder prize for most detentions and generally just becoming the best friend Sirius could have ever asked for.

The end of the school year neared much too quickly. It was mere days before they got their exam results when teachers were dishing out assignments for the summer holidays and were conducting only-fun lessons with them (apart from Pugfastious' lessons).

The heat was blistering, had been for the last few months, and it was on the last day that most students spent the few hours before dinner lounging by the lake in little clothing and admiring the beautiful school grounds.

Seventh Years were hosting parties in their dorms and professors turned blind eyes to it. These students were leaving the school that had shaped their lives for the past seven years. A school which was the epitome of _magic and laughter, fun and excitement._

The Marauders could only feel pity for them.

They stayed up all night, visiting the prefects' bathroom and having a swim to celebrate their last night together. They played Water Quidditch and ate the last of Peter's stash of chocolate.

The next morning the four boys mounted the Hogwarts Express, hearts heavy and pockets full of sweets. The train seemed like it was going faster than ever; Sirius barely noticed the hours scurrying by. He grew quieter and quieter as the sky turned darker and when the train finally stopped in King's Cross Station, his eyes were wide and glassy.

'I can't believe we've already finished our first year.' Peter gushed, brilliant blue eyes crinkled with joy.

'I know,' James agreed. 'It feels like it's only been a few weeks.'

Sirius stepped out of the compartment first and nodded. 'And yet here we are, on our way home from a year filled with mischief-'

'Marauding-' said James.

'And madness of course,' laughed Remus. 'I think this has been the best year of my life.'

The other Marauders nodded vehemently. 'Definitely.' They chanted.

'Please send letters!' James said excitedly as they made their way onto the platform, dragging their enormous trunks behind them.

'Of course,' said Remus. 'And hopefully I can spend a week at yours in the holidays. You are all welcome at mine too.'

'Same here.' Peter said.

They turned expectantly to Sirius who shrugged. 'You probably won't be allowed around to mine but I can always ask.'

His honesty was appreciated, if not a little resented. 'Well, I hereby nominate my house as the Headquarters for the Marauders Marathon of Trouble?'

'Maybe we can spend this holiday coming up with a better name?' laughed Remus. 'But I completely agree, we should definitely have a Headquarters. To dream up more crazy pranks, firstly.'

His friends nodded. 'Also,' said James, 'it would be nice for us to have a place away from everyone else which just belongs to us. I would love if you could all come over for a week this holiday. I could get my parents to send formal letters to your parents-' this was mainly directed at Sirius.

'Okay.' He responded quietly. Then he spotted his family and his smile slipped off his face completely. 'I can see my family. I don't want to keep them waiting.'

'That's fine. I hope to hear from you soon Sirius.' James said, nudging Sirius with his elbow and smiling lopsidedly at him.

'I will most certainly send you letters if I cannot visit you this summer. Have a great holiday. All of you.'

'You too Sirius,' Remus said quietly, a small tilt of his lips. 'Enjoy your holiday.'

The silver-eyed boy smiled and waved at his friends before dragging his heavy trunk behind him and scurrying over to his parents.

Next it was Peter who left and then it was James. Remus was barely alone for a minute before arms engulfed him. He was surprised to notice that he was almost his mother's height now, barely an inch shorter than her. She kissed his hair and his cheek and forehead before Lyall Lupin snatched their son away from her and too kissed and hugged him.

Remus was like a kid in a candy store when he returned home. He showed his parents his report card with passes only, told them as many stories as he could about the school year and shared some of the sweets he had left from the train journey.

It was only when Remus lay cuddled in bed, his mother having just come in to tell him she loved him and was glad he was back, that he remembered what would be happening tomorrow.

Or rather, what day it would be tomorrow.

_The day of the full moon. _

Remus didn't think he had ever gone so long without remembering.

It was strange. He _always_ remembered.

Remus closed his eyes and slept, a feat that was achieved shockingly quickly. Perhaps it was the smell of his home that lulled him to sleep, or maybe it was knowing that his mother and father were only a room away.

Or maybe, just maybe he fell asleep so quickly because he hadn't slept since the night before the last and fatigue was catching up with him. Wrapping the sheets tightly around himself, Remus allowed his mind to escape the confines of his usually guarded, cautious mind, into the realms of imagination, dreams and innocence.

He couldn't wait for the next school year, already counting down the days in his head.

Another boy, also twelve, but with silver eyes and black hair, lay in his bed and also counted down the days until school started. He had never in his life hated his home as much as he in that moment.

_Grim, Old Place._

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><p>Please review :)))<p>

Goodnight xx


	7. Part One: VI

Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you enjoy!

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><p><em>Part One<br>VI_

Summer was blistering. The heat was suffocating. The air's thickness almost brought Remus to asphyxiation. He sat with James in the garden near the pond. Little orange goldfish were deceivingly fast as they swam through the sluggish water, with its flamboyant water lilies and the smooth layer of pebbles at the bottom.

'I do admit,' said James softly, 'Lily is pretty. But that girl has hardly said a word to me this year. She hates me.'

'She barely knows you,' Remus panted, laying back and stretching out on the soft dry grass. 'Let her see how awesome you are and I'm sure she'll want to be your friend in no time.'

They sat in amicable silence whilst James levitated pebbles from the pond and had them flying through the air.

'Remus?'

'Yes?'

There was a shy, hesitant pause and then James said softly, 'I don't want to intrude but I have a question.'

'O-Okay…'

'Are you s-sick?'

There was a pause and they didn't look at one another, simply staring ahead and up at the clear blue sky.

'I don't u-understand…'

'It's just,' rushed James, 'when you go to visit your mother because she gets sick or when you went to those two funerals last year, you come back looking awful.'

'Thanks.'

'No, not in that way. I just meant that you were sick, weren't you?'

Remus turned to look at his friend and shook his head slowly. 'It's not infectious or anything. I just sometimes get sick is all.'

'Well as long as you're okay…'

The blond boy smiled and elbowed James a little hard in the chest. 'I am okay.'

'Boys,' a voice said from behind them. They turned to look at the elderly, motherly figure of Mrs Dorea Potter. 'Your friend Peter is here.'

'Yes, Peter! I hope he remembered to bring the chocolate!' James said excitedly, already out of his seat and tugging on Remus's sleeve.

'Be a little more _graceful_ James.' His mother scolded with a shake of her head, leading the boys through the house to the front door, where Peter stood inside with his tiny mother.

'Say thanks again to Mrs Potter, Peter.'

'Thank you.' The chubby boy said, cheeks endearingly pink when he realised all eyes were on him.

'I'll see you next week darling,' she said, kissing his cheek.

'Bye mum.'

'Bye boys, Mrs Potter-' and then the small woman was gone with a rippling crack.

'Is Sirius coming?' Peter asked softly when he entered the drawing room with the other boys as Dorea dashed off to get them refreshments.

James shrugged, trying to show that Sirius's absence was not getting to him. 'Maybe. I hope so but who knows if his family will let him.'

'They have to,' Peter declared. 'Your mother sent out the invitations almost a fortnight ago. It would be a shame for him to miss the _Marauder Week of Mischief._'

The group of three laughed at the mention of the name. 'Great name,' James said. 'We should make a flag or something to show that our dorm is ours for the next six years.'

'And we can decorate Remus's blueprints-'

'They're not only my blueprints,' said Remus. 'We've all contributed knowledge to help create it.'

'True. But _you've_ drawn it out all pretty and stuff,' Peter replied with a smile.

'And you know,' laughed James, 'drawing it out all pretty and stuff is the most important part.' They chuckled together, lit up with glee and happiness. But be that as it was, neither of the boys could deny that the dry humour, wit and charm, usually in the form of Sirius Black, was missing from their group.

It was at approximately eleven o'clock when Mrs Potter knocked on her son's door. The three Marauders inside, who were binging on Peter's endless supply of chocolate and were entertaining themselves with a fun game of Exploding Snap, were interrupted by the soft voice of James's mother.

'Boys, you have a visitor...'

They turned simultaneously to face the door. Standing, almost as tall as Dorea was Sirius Black. He was dressed impeccably in silks and velvet despite the toasty weather.

'Blimey,' said Sirius. 'It's boiling.' He hoisted his robe off and flung it on James's bed. 'Thank you Mrs Potter-'

'Dorea-'

'Dorea, right.' Sirius said softly. He turned to his friends and grinned at them. 'Hello guys. Sorry I'm late.'

'No,' said James with a shake of his head. 'You're here. Thanks for coming.' He barely noticed his mother bustling out of the room, but not before telling him that she would make them hot chocolates and get out some refreshments for them. 'I didn't actually think you'd come.'

'My mother received another letter from your mother asking if I could please stay. It was more persuasive than the first and when my father read it, he said that I simply must go. He said that he does not want your mother and father to think that I'm _imprisoned_ or something. And I'm not.'

James shrugged. 'Well as long as it brought you here. I didn't know my mother sent that letter.'

With pink cheeks, Sirius copied James and shrugged. 'I'm here now anyway. So, what should we do in our Marauder Week of Mischief?' He sat beside James and grinned at Peter and Remus.

'Hi guys.' His eyes lingered a little on Remus and they shared a brief smile, perhaps speaking words to one another that they would never say aloud.

'Hello Sirius,' Remus replied quietly.

'Hi Sirius,' Peter said very shyly, coloured cheeks more pink than usual. They were always a little more coloured when he was around Sirius. Peter was naturally more scared of the less friendly Marauder of the group.

'How have your holidays been then?'

'Well,' began James. 'I did lots of amazing things.'

'Like you usually do.'

'Yes. Dad took me to this Quidditch match on the first week...'

It was nice listening to James, Remus thought. It pushed the full moon, ever present, which took place a week ago and nearly destroyed him, out of his mind. Peter told a story of how his mother was promoted and as celebration, took him and his cousins on a tour through the largest Honeydukes warehouse in the country. This also explained why Peter did seem a bit … larger.

'What about you Remus? How have your holidays been thus far? Spiffing, I'm sure?' said James with a quirked eyebrow and devillish grin.

Remus laughed. 'Something like that. I went to visit some family which was nice. I also went to the Museum of Merlin in Brighton which was awesome. My mother loves anything magic and she had an amazing time especially. Dad had a hard time controlling her and teaching her to pace herself. She wanted to see everything under the guise of "wanting to know more about the world her son and husband belong to" when me and dad know it's because she has an insatiable greed to understand everything.'

'Well that does sound fun. What about you Sirius?'

He shrugged. 'It wasn't a very good holiday. My cousin, the only one I speak to in the family, eloped with a Mudb- sorry, a Muggleborn a month ago. She got disowned and I've been forbidden to talk to her even though she's one of the only people I get on with in the family.'

'Merlin,' muttered James. 'That didn't go down well, did it?'

'No. Bellatrix, her sister, wants to kill her. She _actually_ wants to kill her. There was also just a lot of crying in general.'

'Well I'm sorry about that Sirius. I hope she's happy, if it's any consolation.' Remus replied quietly.

'I hope she's happy too. But Merlin, a Muggleborn? It's one thing to elope but with a _Muggleborn_? I mean there's nothing wrong with that-' he quickly said, upon noticing his friends' disapproving glares, 'but it's like she wanted her mother and father to kick her out.'

Dorea knocked on the door and entered with trays of bedtime snacks, sandwiches and hot chocolates.

'I'm just happy she's happy. She sent me a letter last week saying that she's doing well and that her and Tonks, her boyfriend, are getting married during Christmas. Well, her fiancé now, right?'

'Congrats to your cousin.' James said, tossing some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans into his mouth. He cringed and swallowed quickly. 'I think I got earwax and urine.'

'How do you know what earwax and urine taste like?' asked Sirius, taking a bite of a sandwich and sipping his hot chocolate.

James shrugged. 'Well you can sort of guess what piss tastes like-'

'James!' his mother scolding, eyes boring into the side of his face as she glared at him.

'Sorry mum. I meant urine. You can sort of tell that urine tastes like what it smells like. As for earwax, don't lie and say you haven't stuck a finger in your ear before, forgotten that you've done such a thing, and unknowingly popped that finger into your mouth.'

The other three boys, half-amused at what James said but also a little repulsed, shrugged and nodded at each other. Every living person had probably gone through that. The cringe at tasting the earwax on one's finger, the shudder that immediately ensued after remembering that it is indeed earwax one has tasted.

'So, Sirius can stay in the guest room with Peter. Remus can stay with me tonight, and then we'll change it up tomorrow.'

'That's fine,' said Remus.

'Yeah,' Peter said, sending Sirius a quick glance.

'Okay.' James replied, looking at each of them in turn.

_xo_

Hyacinths, typically an early spring flower, were blooming in different shades and hues of violet and blue in the courtyard. Sirius was stood in the centre with his brother, the both of them facing their instructor, Mr Fabius Flint, a member of the Sacred Twenty Eight, and therefore worthy of teaching and spending time with the dearly beloved offspring of Orion and Walburga Black.

'Stand up straight,' Flint spat in Sirius's face. The young boy politely wiped his face and stood a little taller.

'Sorry sir.' He said softly.

'Now, I won't see you Sirius until you are next at home. But Merlin, if you return with the same atrocious posture and complete disregard of manners-'

'He won't, Fabius.' A quiet voice said from the other side of the courtyard. 'Gryffindor might be a dirty house but Sirius knows who he should be fraternising with in Hogwarts.'

'I am friends with Slytherins father. I occasionally have lunch with Yaxley and her brother and Layla Shacklebolt is in some of my classes. I sat with her in Astronomy and we got on.' Sirius said.

'Yes well, remember what family you come from, boy. Do not waste time with people who are not worth being friends with.'

With a small nod and a complete disregard to what his father was saying nonetheless, Sirius patiently waited until he and his brother were dismissed before he rushed to his room. He grinned when he spotted Remus's family owl perched on the windowsill. Her name was Celeste and she was snow white with golden feet. She was a very beautiful and regal owl.

'Hello Celeste,' Sirius said softly, stroking her gorgeous plumage and kissing her head. She nipped his finger playfully and stuck out her leg. Sirius pulled the letter off gently and sat down on his large bed, happily letting the owl fly and perch herself on his lap. He stroked the bird whilst he read the letter.

_Sirius,_

_I'm very happy that you're enjoying the last few days of the holiday. I still can't get over how unbelievably amazing it was at James's house. I have never flown a broom like the one he let me fly before. I really did think I was going to die. It went so fast!_

_That being said, flying just isn't for me. But I'm excited for when James applies this year to be on the Quidditch team. He sticks firmly by his belief that it would have been Gryffindor who won this year and not "snobby" Malfoy and his Slytherin team. I do think it was rather nice for the Slytherin seventh years to have something nice to celebrate at the end of the school year though; there were five Slytherin seventh years on the team and only one seventh year in the Gryffindor team. For some strange reason this has lessened the blow of them winning in my mind._

_I cannot wait to see you guys at the start of second year. I don't think you'll recognise me, I'm a lot taller than I was when I last saw you. Funny what a month and lots of eating can do._

_Miss you guys,_

_Remus_

Sirius smiled softly and turned to his dark, walnut writing desk with its fitted and solid gold inkwell, long, flamboyant quills lining one side and a long roll of parchment adorning the length of the desk. He took up one of his quills and began to write in his elegant, neat and ridiculously curly writing. _Of course_ something as simple as his handwriting was controlled and engraved into his mind and attitude through multiple lessons during his younger days.

In the letter, Sirius wrote about how he too had also grown, how his etiquette lessons were harsher than ever and most importantly perhaps, was that he missed the Marauders too.

_xo_

It was on the first of September that Sirius received the shock of a lifetime. He was half asleep, body stretched out on the large bed whilst he snuggled sleepily into his sheets. Then the door was thrown open with a bang and in entered his mother with the two house-elves. She appraised her son carefully and turned to the two elves, instructing them to:

_'Clean him up.'_

Sirius learnt that this meant he would be washed (he was twelve and therefore did not need help washing!), dressed and made pretty. That was actually what his mother had said:

'Make him pretty.'

'I don't understand why I can't wash myself. I'm not an invalid,' Sirius retorted with a scowl as he sat in the half full bath tub.

His favourite elf of the two, Haughty, nodded sympathetically however the second elf, vile Kreacher, scoffed and pulled the comb through a particularly knotted curl on Sirius's head.

'Mistress is wanting Kreacher and Haughty to clean Master Sirius properly.' Then the vile elf sneered. 'Not the half clean Mistress knows Master will achieve without help-'

'Now you listen here elf,' snapped Sirius. He rose furiously from the bath, getting the water everywhere. 'I know how to wash, I assure you.' He pointed angrily at the elegant bathroom door, where they resided in Sirius's en suite bathroom, a privilege he got for being the heir to one of the greatest pureblood families in Europe.

'Get out-'

'But Mistress Black said we is to-' began Kreacher but Sirius cut him off with an angry shake of his head.

'Get out!'

The elves left, if not a little disgruntled. They patiently, for Haughty at least as Kreacher hurried off to tell on Sirius to an indifferent Walburga, waited for the young Black heir to finish in the bath. His hair dripped, ringlets defined emphatically with the weight of the water. His skin was flushed and he looked considerably more awake and lively.

He spotted the pristine, rich robes set out on his bed. 'I thought I was just going to Hogwarts. What has mother so … particular about the way I look?' Sirius asked softly, pulling off the towel wrapped around his waist and drying his hair with it.

'Master and Mistress Yaxley are coming in an hour with their daughter _Serena_. They is here to see you Master Sirius.'

'Blimey,' breathed Sirius. 'Why wasn't I told about it?' He was indignant now.

'Master was told. Haughty remembers when Haughty and Kreacher were serving dinner yesterday and Mistress mentioned it.'

'Oh' said Sirius as Kreacher, with his beady eyes and anxious face, entered. 'I must not remember.'

The elves denied the young boy anymore conversation after that, eager to make Walburga proud and satisfied by dressing and grooming Sirius immaculately.

When his hair was dry and straight, his robes pressed and dusted to crispness, skin moisturised and cheeks rosy from the sly pinches delivered by his mother to give him colour, Walburga and Orion Black deemed him satisfactory enough for the Yaxleys.

He sat patiently in the drawing room as Kreacher and Haughty, each with one shoe, polished his leather loafers to radiance.

'Hello Sirius,' he heard from the door.

Sirius looked up and broke into an honest smile. 'Hello Serena,' he replied. The elves scarpered as quick as politeness deemed it acceptable. 'You look very nice,' Sirius said. His cool grey eyes scanned over her pretty shoes, the lovely floaty white dress robes she wore and the gorgeous necklace wrapped around her neck.

'Thank you. You look very handsome your self. How have your holidays been?'

As Sirius spent the hour with Serena whilst they waited for their parents to finish with the pleasantries and prepare to leave; they had a lovely conversation about what they had spent the holidays doing, how excited they were for second year and most importantly- Pugfastious' retirement as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

'He was awful. I remember that time when you and Potter were throwing scrunched up balls of parchment with very entertaining sketches of him turning into a pug.'

Sirius grinned at her. 'I think what he and a pug have in common is that they are both the bottom of their species. Pugs do not do dogs justice and Pugfastious does not do humans justice.'

She snickered and nodded quickly. 'Pugs definitely do not do dogs justice. I really want a dog or a crup. I don't think mother and father would let me have one though…'

There was a knock on the door. Haughty entered the room and bowed low to the ground. 'Master, Miss Yaxley, Masters and Mistresses Black and Yaxley are ready to leave for Hogwarts.'

Sirius looked at the girl opposite him as the house elf left the room. She was staring at him with a half smile on her face. Serena's eyes were large and blue, like a clear Alice sky during the summer. She had pink cheeks and was biting her lip.

Sirius did not know what to do so he leant forward to kiss her very briefly on the cheek. 'It was very nice seeing you Serena.'

Her cheeks were bright red now and she was looking into her lap. 'We're still going to the platform together.'

'I know,' said Sirius, standing up and taking Serena's coat to help her put it on. 'I just wanted to let you know that I am very happy to see you.'

'Well,' she whispered, 'thank you.' Then she leant forward to kiss his cheek and they smiled at one another.

Mr and Mrs Yaxley were stood beside his own parents, with Regulus awkwardly stood between the group. They smiled at the sight of their two children together.

'What a handsome couple you will make,' said Walburga as she looked down at her son with Serena and grinned.

'Yes, they are simply splendid together…' Mrs Yaxley agreed.

Sirius looked at his brother who was staring at him with a curious expression. Then Sirius rolled his eyes and his younger brother smiled softly.

The Blacks and Yaxleys Apparated to the Kings Cross Station with the elves levitating the trunks. Sirius eagerly looked around the station, bustling with families, students eagerly dashing around to see their friends or reunite with soulmates.

Sirius sighed happily. He was finally free-

Or rather, semi-free. His parents were still there with him.

'Here's your allowance for the next month, son,' said Orion. He looked very cautious when saying it, like he had more to say to his son but not enough confidence maybe, or energy even. Sirius knew it required a lot of energy to sometimes speak to him. Orion took his son by the shoulder and ushered him over to a spot away from prying eyes or eavesdropping ears.

'Sirius, I wanted to tell you that the Yaxleys are becoming more and more persistent in marrying their daughter at the end of her seventh year. Whilst we are the main family they are considering to wed their daughter to, as you are betrothed to her, the Flints are also being considered as well as the Rosiers should anything happen to you or the relations between us and their family.'

Sirius nodded slowly and looked over to Serena. He could hardly blame other families wanting to wed their sons to Serena Yaxley; she was beautiful and smart, but most importantly, not a drag like the other pureblood girls his age.

However, despite all of Serena's amazing qualities, Sirius still felt a distinct _lack_ of emotional attachment to her. A girl of whom he had been betrothed to since before he could remember, and whilst he would be sad if she died, he would not shed a tear.

Perhaps he would grow into the feelings he was _supposed_ to feel for her.

'Sirius!' shouted a familiar, cheery voice. He knew the voice belonged to his best friend before he even looked up.

James, now the same height as his mother but still small compared to his father, was waving at Sirius whilst walking over to the Blacks and Yaxleys.

'Hello Sirius, it's nice to see you again!' James screeched with excitement. Then he noticed Yaxley and smiled politely at her, posture straightening as he was affronted with a wave of pureblood influence; one which his parents had never forced upon him. 'Miss Yaxley,' he saw, with a ridiculous bow of his messy-haired head.

'James Potter,' she bowed her head too and spared him a brief smile.

'Sirius,' said Dorea Potter, whose arms quivered to pull him into a hug. She smiled softly at the young boy then. 'It's lovely to see you. And your parents too.' Her voice turned a little cold and indifferent as she said, 'Good morning Orion, Walburga.'

'Dorea.' Sirius's mother breathed. 'It has been a long time.'

Dorea smiled wide and shuffled a little closer to her husband, who wrapped an arm around her waist and appraised the Blacks sternly. 'It has been a long time indeed. I am glad to see you are well. You remember my husband, of course?'

'Well of course,' Walburga replied in a voice that was almost patronising. 'Charlus Potter.'

'Hello Mrs Black.'

'Walburga, please.' She chuckled radiantly, yes, but without feeling in her eyes and without a glimmer of true emotion on her face. She looked back and forth between Charlus and his son. 'You and your son look very much alike.'

'I could same the same to you and Sirius,' then Charlus turned to appraise the Yaxleys. He spared them a polite nod and then turned back to Sirius. 'How have your holidays been Sirius?'

'Very good thank you. Mother and father had to buy me a new wardrobe because it seems that I've outgrown all of my old clothes.'

'Yes, James has grown a lot too-' began Dorea but the hoot of the train cut them off. It was the warning sound that the Hogwarts Express was going to depart soon.

'Well, it was nice seeing you again Walburga, Orion,' said Dorea as her husband shook hands with the Black patriarch. James's parents ushered their son away and left the two families belonging to the Sacred Twenty Eight alone.

Walburga seemed to be having a silent conversation with Serena's mother, consisting mainly of raised eyebrows, quirks of eyebrows and pursed lips. Whilst Sirius did not know what they were saying, he knew they were insulting the Potters.

His father however stole his attention. 'Sirius,' he said. 'This should last you for the month.' He produced a grey bag made of velvet, bulging with galleons. 'Two hundred' to be precise.

'Thank you very much father,' he replied politely with a bow of his head, having completely forgotten about his allowance.

'Hurry now, but bid Serena's parents goodbye first,' Orion's claw-like fingers dug into his son's shoulder as he pushed him towards Mr and Mrs Yaxley.

Sirius smiled warmly at them and said, 'Thank you very much for coming here with us Ma'am, Sir. It has been very nice to see you. I wish you a very good year and I hope to see you soon.'

Mrs Yaxley smiled softly at him and nodded. 'Aren't you a lovely, polite young man. I was worried when I heard that you had been sorted into Gryffindor, but that does not seem nearly as relevant as it did last year.'

'I am sorry to hear that Ma'am. I can assure you though that being in Gryffindor has not changed my ambitions and beliefs. Whilst I believe that one's house plays a huge role in their actions, I do not think that one's house is wholly indicative of one's talents and beliefs. Professor Dumbledore, the greatest wizard alive, was in Gryffindor.'

Mrs Yaxley threw her head back and laughed. 'You are very smart young boy.' The Hogwarts Express hooted again and Sirius turned to face his parents. Many of the kids around him were kissing and hugging their parents goodbye, jumping onto the train and in a few cases, bursting into tears at the prospect of leaving home.

But for Sirius, he simply had to say politely 'Goodbye mother, father.' Then he turned to his brother who was watching him curiously; Regulus did that a lot these days. He watched Sirius curiously, almost like he was trying to ascertain exactly where Sirius went wrong.

Sirius shook his head and mumbled to his brother, 'Bye Reg.'

'Have a good year.' His brother said. Then Sirius linked arms with Serena, waved at his parents for a last time and watched as the trunks were levitated to following him and Serena onto the train.

_xo_

'Remy,' a voice called from downstairs. 'Are you almost done? We're gonna be late,' his mother said loudly.

'Just a minute mum,' Remus said quietly, more to himself than his mother. He was staring into a mirror, a hand in his golden brown hair as he brushed it back. He thought that his eyes looked bigger with his hair out of the way, his skin more rosy, his jaw sharper.

But Remus didn't like the fact that his features were more accentuated with the loss of hair-coverage.

'Remus!' It was his father now, which of course meant that Remus really should be heading downstairs. He gave himself one last long look in the mirror before he hopped down the stairs to his mother's side. She wrapped an arm around his waist whilst her other hand touched his hair fondly.

'I'm going to miss you so much.'

'You too mum,' he replied, kissing her cheek. He bent down to slip on his shoes, put on the jacket his mother handed him and linked arms with his father and mother. Air was sucked out of his lungs, his whole body was heaving as he was squeezed through the tube of Disapparation.

His feet touched down, his arm reaching over to straighten his mother as she lost balance.

'My god,' she murmured. 'I don't think I'll ever get used to that.' Then she laughed. 'Oh but it's such a strange feeling.' Hope Lupin looked around the platform excitedly. 'Don't we have to run through that wall?'

'No dear. We've Apparated straight onto the Platform Nine and-'

'But I really like running through that wall,' she whined and her son laughed whilst Lyall shook his head fondly, kissing her tenderly on the mouth.

'When Remus is on the train, we'll leave that way. Now Remus, this isn't much but hopefully it will last you for most of this term,' he gave his son a small pouch with sickles and galleons. 'Spend it wisely.'

Remus thanked his father, threw his arms around his neck and squeezed. 'Thank you dad.'

'You're welcome son. I love you.'

The young boy bit his tongue to keep his emotions in control so he wouldn't burst into tears on the platform. 'You too dad.'

When his father released him and pushed him towards his mother. Hope's eyes were wet with tears and her bottom lip was trembling. When her eyes met her son's, she gave him a watery chuckle and pulled him into a hug.

'Oh Remy,' she said. 'I'm going to miss you so much. More than I should.' She laughed again and sniffed rapidly, but Remus didn't care if her snot went all over him. As long as she carried on holding him and wrapping him in her warm arms and kissing his hair. 'My beautiful baby boy is growing up so much.'

'It's only going to be a few months mum.' Remus said softly to her. 'Unless I have a bad moon, in which case Madam Pomfrey will floo you or something.'

His mother smoothed his hair back, murmuring softly, 'You look much better with your hair out of your eyes.' Then she kissed his forehead. 'Take it easy this year.'

'Yes mum.'

'And eat-'

'Okay mum.'

'And do all your homework and go to sleep early, especially before the full-'

'I know mum.'

'Most importantly though Remus,' Hope said as she stared into her son's eyes, whilst the same colour as his father's, still retaining the innocence and expression that Hope felt he got from her. 'Most importantly darling, have fun.' _God knows you deserve it,_ she thought silently.

Remus hugged his mother tightly once more and with the strength that he possessed purely because of his lycanthropy, Remus lifted the heavy trunk off the ground and hobbled a little as he carried it with him to the train.

Hope barely got to scream her last _I LOVE YOU_ before the Hogwarts Express was off and her baby son was gone.

_xo_

Sirius led Serena into a compartment, where they settled down and got comfortable, talking about what they were planning to do once they got to Hogwarts.

It was about ten minutes later when James burst into their compartment with Peter in tow, laughing and saying victoriously: 'Finally found you.' Peter turned bright pink upon noticing pretty Serena and he shuffled behind James as they entered the room.

'We're not interrupting, are we?' said James solicitously but with a rogue wink.

'Oh no, I was just leaving. I'm going to try and find my friends somewhere on the train.' The pretty blonde girl said softly. She and Sirius stood up. 'It was nice seeing you again Sirius.'

'You too Serena,' he replied before leaning forward to kiss her cheek. Then he pointed his wand at her trunk and said 'Wingardium Leviosa' to it. The trunk levitated and gracefully went to hover beside Serena.

She smiled at him and left the compartment.

James pounced on Sirius with questions before he even sat down. 'So, have you had your first kiss? When did it happen? Who kissed who? What was it like? Is she a good kisser? Are you a good kisser? Where did it-'

'Merlin's pants James, take a breath or two.' Sirius laughed and flopped down opposite his friend. He looked at the door when it opened and grinned at Remus. 'Hello Remus.'

'Hey guys,' said Remus with a small wave as he looked at each of his friends. He smiled shyly and put his trunk down on the rack. His hand, when liberated from the baggage of carrying his trunk, itched to run through his hair and settle it across his face.

But he looked _nicer_ when his eyes were showing, as many people had now told him. Remus looked slowly at James first, then Peter and finally Sirius, where they stayed. He saw the boy's eyes glide over his body quickly before Sirius said, 'You've grown.'

'So have you.'

'Well,' began Sirius as he stood up, barely an inch taller than Remus, 'I have grown a lot but you've grown _a lot_.'

'The difference?'

'That I barely recognise you with your lovely blond locks out of your face and your limbs a little longer. Imagine,' he was quieter now, 'how tall we'll all be at the end of second year?'

Remus grinned. 'Tall enough that my mother will finally stop kissing my forehead because she can't reach it anymore?'

The other boy laughed and nodded. 'Tall enough so that your forehead will never be kissed again.'

'So, back to the topic of kissing,' said James with a playful wink. 'How is it kissing Yaxley?'

'You've kissed Yaxley?' asked Remus curiously as he sat down beside Peter.

'No, Merlin. James assumes that because I kissed Serena on the cheek, it suddenly means that we're kissing buddies or something.'

'But she is your betrothed. I just thought-' began the bespectacled Marauder but he drifted off when his friend shook his head.

With an exasperated laugh, Sirius murmured under his breath that; 'I don't quite think me and Serena are comfortable enough with each other to … do stuff like that together. Besides, our betrothal agreements haven't been drawn up yet which means that whilst we are pretty much going to marry one another in the future, it's not definite and things could still change.'

'Change?' asked the timid voice of Peter, eyes like dull, murky sapphires hiding behind brilliant blond hair.

'You know, if I were to die, be disowned, if the Yaxleys decided that the Flints could bring them what they wanted and not the Blacks.' Then Sirius scoffed. 'Not like _that's_ ever going to happen though.'

The compartment door rolled open and they saw an elderly lady, pushing her infamous trolley, stick her head in and smile at them. 'Anything from the trolley dears?'

'Yes please!' the four boys said in unison.

_xo_

'Where are you going?' asked James softly as he watched Remus pack his bag with a toothbrush, a spare change of clothes and a book.

Remus looked up slowly, eyes blazing between a fringe of blond brown hair. 'Er … my Aunt Matilda is really sick. She might not last until the Christmas holidays, even if they are only a month away. Professor McGonagall is letting me go for a few days to see her.'

'Merlin, they let you go and see your sick family a lot Remus,' said Peter. 'I think McGonagall must really like you.'

The boy looked up with pink cheeks and a trembling bottom lip as he stared at James.

'Well, I hope your aunt gets better soon.' This time it was Sirius who spoke; every word deliberate, every sound slipping solicitously from his mouth.

'Thank you. See you guys later.' Remus threw his satchel across his body and left the dormitory hurriedly.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Sirius whizzed around to face James. 'It's happening again.'

'Last month and now this month. And what's more-'

'Yes! His Aunt-'

'-Matilda, I know. Didn't she die-'

'Six months ago? Just what I was thinking. Surely he can't have-'

'Two aunts by the name Matilda? Surely he can't! Sirius, he's got a secret. He's lying to us. But why?'

Sirius began pacing their dormitory, hair curly because he had not yet applied his _Sleakeazy's Hair Straightening Potion_ and cheeks tinged pink with exertion from starting and finishing James's sentences. 'Let's think about it carefully first. So, he's disappeared every few weeks since we first started Hogwarts. Now, he's running out of excuses for his disappearances.'

'Maybe he's involved in something illegal?' James said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

'James, this isn't something to be excited about. What if he's in danger,' murmured Sirius. 'What if he sneaks off to do something because otherwise he'll be hurt?'

The other boy shook his head. 'Remus is too smart to do something stupid. But I like this idea of him being in danger-'

'You like it?' cried Sirius. 'Well done, you've broken rule number one of being a Marauder-'

'No you idiot. I mean I think this idea of him being in danger is right. I mean he always comes back looking sick and vulnerable and hurt. Isn't that what we picked up on last month too?'

Peter gasped. 'What if he's sick and has to disappear every few weeks to get the medicine that makes him better?'

Clapping his hands together, the messy-haired pureblood nodded. 'Yes, I think it might be something like that. Maybe he has an illness that requires him to go away for a bit to get his energy back.'

'And what magical illness comes back every few weeks?' asked Peter.

'What if it's something like Spattergroit?' said Sirius, biting his lip quizzically.

'Or Black Cat flu?'

Peter jumped excitedly in his seat. 'Oh, I know what it is! Dragon Pox!'

James laughed. 'I think we'd notice if he was suffering from Dragon Pox. Maybe it's something not as obvious, like-'

'Lycanthropy.' Sirius said.

There was silence.

One might have _enjoyed_ the silence, as in the Dormitory Two for the second year boys, there was scarcely ever any silence.

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